Edinburgh’s Parliament House is located in the Old Town just off the Royal Mile, beside St. Giles Cathedral.

It was home to the pre -1707 Scottish Parliament and is now the High Court of Justiciary, it is the centre of the Scottish legal system, housing the Court of Session, the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Parliament Hall, which was completed in 1639, is the oldest part of Parliament House. This was built during Charles I’s reign as a permanent home for the parliament. It has a dramatic hammerbeam roof made of Scandinavian oak. The roof of the new Scottish Parliament building continues this tradition, and is supported by large laminated oak beams.

After the Act of Union 1707, the Parliament of Scotland was dissolved, and the building ceased to be used for its original function. There are three libraries within the building, The National Law Library of Scotland, The Advocates Library and The Signet Library, a private library, funded by members of The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet.