Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh

Duddingston Loch is a freshwater lake in Edinburgh, set beside Holyrood Park and southwest of Duddingston village. It is one of the last two natural lochs remaining within the city, and the largest of the park’s three lochs. Its area is eight hectares, with a maximum depth of three metres.

A remarkable secret lay beneath this water: around three thousand years ago, Bronze Age weapons and other objects were deliberately destroyed and placed in the loch. A dredger recovered them in 1778, and the Duddingston Loch Hoard is now displayed at the National Museum of Scotland. Henry Raeburn’s painting The Skating Minister uses this loch as its setting.

Skating and curling once brought clubs here; curling records reach back to 1761. The loch has been a bird sanctuary since 1925, and its reed beds support herons, swans, grebes and other wildlife.