Arthur's Seat and Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

15608

Title

The Hill of Arthur's Seat and Edinburgh from Lochend

Description

A group of men in a rowing boat raise their guns to shoot wifldfowl emerging from the reeds at the side of Lochend Loch. Rising above the lochside is a substantial house on an embankment. In the distance is Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. Edinburgh spreads from the foot of these hills into the distance, further still are the Pentland Hills.

Artist / maker

Clerk, John

Date

1855

Size

14.5cm x 38.5 cm

Type

Etching

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Arthur's Seat is the remains of a now extinct volcano which rises 250 metres (823 feet) above Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. Remains of an Iron Age Hill fort were found on the east side of the hill. The origins of the peak's name have been somewhat lost. One theory is that it is a corruption of the gaellic Ard-na-saith, meaning height of arrows, indicating a past usage as a practice place for archery. Arthur's Seat is also known as the Lion's Head.

Salisbury Crags are an igneous sill, composed of cooled magma during the period of volcanic activity and later shaped by glacial erosion. The steep cliffs of the crags provided natural defence for early human inhabitants. Traces of a stone rampart dating from the early part of the first millennium BC have been found there. More recently James Hutton's studies of the Crags led to the release in 1788 of his 'Theory of the Earth', the work which established him in the eyes of many as the father of modern geology.

This is a copy of an etching presented to George III in 1786 by John Clerk of Eldin.

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Related subjects

Landscape > Land > Hills

Landscape > Water > Loch, lakes and ponds

Places > Edinburgh areas > Holyrood

Places > Edinburgh areas > Lochend

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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