New chapter for a very royal - and once very rough - historic Edinburgh property

It was where James V stored his weapons and Mary Queen of Scots put her many guests.

Abbey Strand's colourful history has been entwined with its connections to royalty, including James V and his daughter Mary Queen of Scots.

Later, it was where hundreds of impoverished debtors - from clan chiefs to drug addled writers- could live free from the threat of arrest.

Now, Abbey Strand, which overlooks Holyrood Palace, will soon serve a very modern Edinburgh function and open as luxury apartments from the end of the month.

The oldest part of the building dates from 1490, when it was connected to Holyrood Abbey.

James V of Scotland (1512–1542) altered Abbey Strand so it could accommodate his weapons ahead of his ill-fated stand against the English. Two walls were knocked down so the building could take 3,500 pikes and 500 halberds, a type of two-handed weapon. The campaign ended in decisive defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss with the loss said to have hastened the King's early death.

Later, James V's daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, converted into into luxury lodgings for her large court which at its height included 600 people. Courtiers and ambassadors were regular visitors. The Queen's bathhouse can still be seen at the back of the property.

Abbey Strand also reflects another fascinating period of Edinburgh history. From the late 17th to the 19th century, debtors who stayed within the boundary of Holyrood Abbey - which included Abbey Strand - were protected from civil law and could not be arrested.

The refuge attracted the financially troubled from all over the world, including Bohemia, the USA and West Indies. Among them were Thomas de Quincey, author of Confessions of an English Opium Eater, and the Comte d'Artois. He went on to become King Charles X of France.

Both men have apartments named after them, as well as seven other figures connected to the historic property, said Freya Spargo, house manager at Lateral City Apartments, which has leased the property from Royal Collections Trust in the first arrangement of its kind.

Another apartment is named after Lady Margaret Seton.

Ms Spargo said: "When Lady Margaret's husband died, in order to pay of debts she auctioned off around 3,000 books from her own personal library. One of the apartments has this beautiful tower, it is a real book nook, so we hope to fill it up with books in her honour.

"Thomas de Quincey was another intriguing resident. He moved to London to Edinburgh, which was seen as a way to get clean and turn his life around. He was working off his debt by working on five different magazines in Edinburgh and Glasgow. After about two years, he was able to move into his own home again."

It is said that the novelist Walter Scott considered hiding at Abbey Strand when in financial difficulty in 1827.

During the 18th and 19th Centuries, Abbey Strand dwindled into a damp and poorly lit slum as the New Town drew more affluent residents away from Canongate area. Up to 25 flats could be found in the building.

Among later residents was Lucky Spence, a brothel keeper immortalised by the Edinburgh poet Allan Ramsay.

According to an account by Royal Collections Trust, Abbey Strand made the headlines several times in the 19th Century and its unsavoury reputation grew.

In 1848, newspapers reported how a resident painter stabbed himself in a fit of insanity and 'threw a quantity of gunpowder into the fire', badly burning his wife and two sons.

In the 1850s a shoemaker, when making an opening in a wall to create a new window, discovered a cavity containing the skeleton of a child.

Soon, a new and surely quieter chapter in the life of Abbey Strand will begin.