How do volcanoes become extinct?

This is probably something we all learned in high school geography lessons, but I genuinely couldn't remember why volcanoes become extinct and why extinct volcanoes are different from dormant volcanoes. Maybe I should provide some context to these questions however. 

We were up in Edinburgh for a wedding recently, and had most of a day to kill before heading to a nearby village on the coast. After a breakfast of champions where I ate all the haggis, we decided to work it off by climbing Arthur's Seat, the peak of the extinct volcano on which Edinburgh had been founded.

Not kidding, ALL the haggis (+ poached eggs)

Which led to my question: why is it extinct and not dormant? Husband wasn't quite sure of the answer, so I did a little research (#google) and it's a very simple answer. Extinct volcanoes have been completely cut of from their source of magma, due to the natural movement of the earth's crust over time. Whereas a dormant volcano simply hasn't erupted for a long time, but may yet still do so. Which makes complete sense to me. Although it did make me wonder how people knew the difference between extinct and dormant volcanoes before seismographs and other modern instruments were invented. Perhaps they didn't...

So that starts things off with a geography lesson. But back to Arthur's Seat. As is true with places that have featured historically for as far back as we can see, Arthur's Seat is surrounded by all sorts of imaginings and legends. For one, no one knows how it came to take its name, although speculation is rife around it being linked to Arthur of Camelot. Probably linked to that, there's also a legend that the rock itself is a sleeping dragon - very happy to say that I felt no snoring beneath my feet whilst standing at the summit. More interestingly (and factually), in 1836 seventeen miniature coffins were found in the cliffside, filled with carved wooden figures! This really was the randomest fact to find out about and on further exploration, I found this delightful little clip made by National Museums Scotland which talks a bit more about these little figures (and shows them to you). They suggest that the leading theory behind the burial of these mini coffins was the scandal of Burke and Hare - two men who committed a series of murders (16 to be precise) in Edinburgh in order to sell the bodies for dissection in anatomy classes led by one Robert Knox. Burke was later found guilty of one of the murders after Hare turned King's Evidence, and hanged. So the seventeen coffins could represent the victims plus Burke, but that does feel a little unlikely to me....why would there be one for the murderer as well as the victims?

Before I move on to less horrific chat, I thought I'd share this little 19th century rhyme that started up in Edinburgh following the Burke and Hare scandal, mainly because I love how the Scottish turn anything into a rhyme 

Up the close and doon the stair,

But and ben' wi' Burke and Hare.

Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief,

Knox the boy that buys the beef.

So, back to modern times. We were actually extremely lucky with the weather on the day we climbed Arthur's Seat. It wasn't too hot, it was a little windy, but it wasn't raining, so basically a nice day for May in Edinburgh. Our walk took us down the tail end of the Royal Mile, down to Holyrood Palace. I must admit I've never been in the vicinity of the Scottish Parliamentary Seat and it was interesting to look around and see how it compared to Westminster. Certainly less tourists, although we were to find all the tourists when entering Holyrood Park.

It took us around an hour to climb to the summit of Arthur's seat. The route isn't too steep, and is certainly achievable even for the less fit of us. But it is a trail and does requiring picking your way amongst loose stones and generally watching where you're going. As you get higher and higher, the wind picks up so it does get relatively chilly too. But the views absolutely make it all worth it. The summit in particular is the only place where you can get a full panoramic view of the whole of Edinburgh, and even Edinburgh Castle feels like it's set at sea level in comparison with being up there.

Husband and I - windswept, weary and proud of our achievement

So there we have it, Arthur's Seat. In case you're wondering, there's no actual chair or throne at the summit (ok yes, I did wonder). Just a beautiful view, fresh air, the pride of having completed the climb, and a load of tourists being generally in the way.