Blog – Page 3 – Edinburgh Travel Tips

There are many famous monuments, statues and memorials in Edinburgh. The most famous is the Scott Monument, raised to remember the great 19th century poet and writer, Sir Walter Scott. Others include Scott Monument Burns Monument National Monument Nelson Monument Melville Monument Martyrs Monument Stewart Monument Playfair Monument Scottish Parliament Monument Scott Monument The Scott Monument commemorates the great 19th century poet and writer Sir Walter Scott. Scott died in 1832 and the huge monument was built between 1840 and 1844. It stands in east Princes Street gardens, near Waverley Station, although it’s so tall it can be seen from many points around the city. Indeed, for 115 years it was the tallest monument in the world to a writer, standing at 200ft 6in (61m) high until it was overtaken by the monument to Jose Marti in Havana, Cuba. When Scott died and the idea of a monument to the great man was accepted, a competition was held for the design. Interestingly, the competition was won not by an architect but by a carpenter. George Meikle Kemp fancied himself as a draughtsman but knew that if entered the competition under his own name his design would not be taken seriously. So he entered the completion under a pseudonym. He took the name of John Morvo, who was the medieval architect of Melrose Abbey in the borders. In the event, ‘Morvo’ won the competition with a stupendous soaring gothic design and the foundation stone was laid in 1840. Sadly, however, George did not live to see his great structure finished. On a foggy Wednesday evening in 1844 as he returned home from work he fell into the Union Canal and drowned. As well as the gothic design of the monument itself, it is notable for all the statues placed around the monument. First, at the base of the monument is a sculpture of Scott himself, sitting with his dog, Maida, looking toward Princes Street. Around the structure of the statue, rising from the first level to the very top are 68 other statues and sculpted heads of real people and fictitious characters depicted in Scott’s many novels. When you exit Waverley Station and gaze up at the Scott Monument, perhaps, like the America writer, Bill Bryson, you too will think of it as the ‘gothic rocket’! Whatever you think of the Scott Monument, you will certainly appreciate it more when you take the long climb of 247 steps to the very top where it will give you one of the most wonderful views of Edinburgh. The Burns Monument The monument to Scotland’s Bard stands on the edge of Calton Hill looking over the city and Arthur’s Seat. It was built in 1832 and originally contained a statue of Burns. The monument was designed by the renowned Edinburgh architect, Thomas Hamilton. Hamilton based his design on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens (19th century Edinburgh architects were a little obsessed with Greek architecture, as can be seen by the many Greek temple buildings around the city). The statue of Burns, in marble, that used to reside inside the monument, was in fact sculpted before the monument was built. However, the subscription raised for the statue was only half-used and it was decided to use the remaining money for a monument. The statue was removed from the monument in 1899 and can still be seen today on the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street. On the monument is inscribed “Robert Burns 1759 - 1796” The National Monument The National Monument is one of many monuments that stand on Calton Hill. It’s easy to spot as it looks like a Greek temple standing on a hill - a bit like the Parthenon in Athens. It was built in 1829 to commemorate the dead of the Napoleonic Wars, which had ended 14 years previously. Being built in 19th century Edinburgh, the “Athens of the North”, it’s no great surprise that it was based on the Parthenon. It was designed by architects Charles Cockerell and William Henry Playfair, one of the most renowned Scottish architects of the 19th century. If you visit the National Monument however, you will see that it is not finished. Construction of the monument started in 1826 but by 1829 there was no money left and construction was stopped. It never resumed. Because it’s half-finished, it was often referred to disparingly as “Edinburgh’s Disgrace” and other such names. Various suggestions have been made over the years to finish the monument but all have come to nothing and it’s unlikely that it ever will. Inscribed on the monument is “A Memorial of the Past and Incentive to the Future Heroism of the Men of Scotland” It may be unfinished but I like it. The Nelson Monument The Nelson Monument stands on the highest point of Calton Hill and commemorates Admiral Nelson, the British admiral of the fleet who was killed in action during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and his victory over the French and Spanish fleets. The monument is 105ft (32m) high and you can climb 143 steps to the top for the most magnificent view over the Old Town and the Queen’s Park. At the top of the monument is a time ball that is timed to rise then drop with the one o’clock gun at Edinburgh Castle. The time ball was added in 1854, 38 years after the monument itself was completed in 1816. The monument was designed as an upturned telescope by architect Robert Burn, with the base of the tower designed by Thomas Bonnar after Burn had died in 1816. The Melville Monument It’s hard to miss the Melville Monument. A huge column standing 150ft (46m) high that dominates St Andrew’s Square in the heart of Edinburgh, it commemorates Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. A statue of Dundas stands on the top. You can’t really talk about the Melville Monument without talking about Dundas himself. He was - and still is - a controversial figure. Henry Dundas was an Edinburgh lawyer who rose to prominence in the 18th century government of William Pitt. He basically ruled Scotland as a government minister and was often referred to as King Harry the Ninth a reference to the English king, Henry the Eighth. He prosecuted Thomas Muir and the other Political Martyrs for having the audacity to call for parliamentary reform and Universal Suffrage, having them transported to Australia in 1793 convicted of sedition. (see the Martyrs Monument, below) But it’s the connection to the slave trade that Dundas is most strongly linked with. William Wilberforce, the great reformer, in 1792 brought a bill to Parliament (the House of Commons) to ban the trade in slaves, a previous bill having failed. Depending on what version you believe, Dundas, by delaying the bill’s effective start date either made the bill palatable to Parliament so that it passed, or, he delayed the end of the slave trade for many years resulting in many more people being transported from Africa to the sugar plantations. However, on the other hand, Dundas, as Scotland’s Lord Advocate, effectively ended slavery in Scotland when he defended a young slave called Joseph Knight. Knight had been bought as a slave in Jamaica and had been brought to Scotland by his owner. Dundas convinced the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest court to rule that, “no person could be a slave on Scottish soil.”. The monument was paid for by subscriptions from Royal Navy sailors, who apparently rather liked Dundas for his hard position against the French in the Wars of the Revolution. It was designed by architect William Burn and Robert Stevenson (RL Stevenson’s grandfather) was consulted on the building on the construction of the enormous column. Martyrs Monument The Martyrs Monument is huge obelisk that rises from the top of the cliff face on Regent Road, across from Calton Hill. Designed by Thomas Hamilton, it is 90ft (27m) tall and was completed in 1844. The monument commemorates the five Political Martyrs of the 18th century who were charged and convicted of sedition and sentenced to deportation to Australia. The five - Thomas Muir, Thomas Fyshe Palmer, William Skirving, Maurice Margarot, and Joseph Gerrald - were campaigners for political reform, especially universal suffrage. Influenced by the French Revolution. In an 18th century Britain that was looking nervously at events in France, these were dangerous activities and the five were charged with sedition and prosecuted by Henry Dundas, who was home secretary at the time. Another monument to the Martyrs was erected in Nunhill Cemetery, London, in 1852. At 33ft (10m) it is around a third of the height of the monument in Edinburgh. The Dugald Stewart Monument Dugald Stewart was a towering figure of the Scottish Enlightenment in 18th century Edinburgh. He was a mathematician and philosopher and is remembered by the monument on Calton Hill. The monument can easily be seen from the east end of Edinburgh city centre and was designed by William Henry Playfair. As with Hamilton’s Burns Monument, Playfair also based Stewart’s monument on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. Stewart was a disciple of Adam Smith and when Smith died he wrote the first biography of Smith entitled, Account of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith. He was also instrumental in taking the ‘Scottish Philosophy’ into Europe described as a realist form of philosophy often referred to as Scottish common sense realism, or the Scottish school of common sense. Playfair Monument John Playfair was figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. He was a geologist, mathematician and philosopher. He was the first president of the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution and in 1783 was a co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his many writings and books is his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth/which expanded upon and illustrated the great geologist James Hutton’s /The Theory of the Earth. Playfair was instrumental in the building of the Observatory on Calton Hill. It remained in operation until a new observatory was built in 1888 on Blackford Hill, at that time outside of the city and well away from the light that was causing problems at the Calton Hill observatory. The beautiful observatory building was designed by the great Edinburgh architect, William Henry Playfair, John’s nephew, and it was William that also designed the monument to his uncle. The monument, as with many monuments described here, is in the Greek style, with cornice and fluted doric columns. The monument is built into the south east wall of the observatory and balances out, as WH Playfair no doubt intended, the Observatory House at the opposite corner. You can still visit the old observatory and see the old 22” telescope. The observatory was refurbished by Edinburgh Council and now houses the Collective Gallery, a contemporary art centre, bookshop and restaurant. Scottish Parliament Monument This should really read ‘Scottish Parliament Monuments’ for there are two monuments to the Scottish Parliament, not one. Vigil For The Scottish Parliament Monument The first is essentially a cairn, built on the south east part of Calton Hill. It was built during the long vigil of 1,980 days from 1992 to 1997 when the Scottish people voted Yes in a referendum to restore Scotland’s parliament, which had been adjourned following the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1707. The cairn has a brazier on the top, where a fire was kept lit during the vigil. At the base of the monument is an inscription from Hugh McDiarmid: For we ha’e faith in Scotland’s hidden poo’ers The present’s theirs but a’ the past and future’s oors. The Stones Of Scotland This is a rather lovely monument, completed in 2002, which celebrates the restoration of Scotland’s parliament. Situated in the Regent Road gardens opposite Calton Hill, it overlooks the parliament building itself. It is slight domed and circular, with a stone mined from each of Scotland’s 32 local councils placed around the edge. In the middle of the monument stands a little Scots pine tree. It also has an inscription from Hugh McDairmid: So I have gathered unto myself A’ the loose ends of Scotland And by naming them and accepting them Loving them and identifying myself with them Attempt to express the whole.