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Edinburgh Cross as presently preserved near Edinburgh
Skene, James, 1824, Watercolour
Edinburgh Cross as presently preserved near Edinburgh
Edinburgh Cross as presently preserved near Edinburgh
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Category
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Item no
619
Title
Edinburgh Cross as presently preserved near Edinburgh
Description
A stone carved cross sits on top of a stone column and plinth. The column is octagonal, it has a foliated cap with a crenellated feature around the top of the cap. A second image shows a unicorn in place of the cross. Only the cap is visible. A saltire flag is above the horned mythical beast.
Artist / maker
Skene, James
Date
1824
Size
21 x 10 cm.
Type
Watercolour
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection
The artist, James Skene, records how the original ancient cross of Edinburgh was demolished in 1756: "As to the shaft of the Cross upon which the Unicorn as to the Crest of Scottish Arms with a spear and a flag was raised, when lowering it down, a pulley gave way and the pillar fell to the ground and was broken"(1). Lord Somerville obtained the fragments and re-assembled the Cross close to his home at the House of Drum just outside Edinburgh. The drawing with its imagined detail of the Unicorn represents the cross, in its reconstructed from, at the Drum (c 1820s). In 1866, the Cross was removed from the House of Drum and placed in the High Kirk at St Giles (2). In 1885, William Gladstone, the Liberal statesman and Member of Parliament for Midlothian, erected a new cross, which incorporated parts of the old cross, in its current position.
1. Skene, James, Reekiana, 1836, Edinburgh Central Library Archive, 100
2. Grant, James, Old and New Edinburgh, 1880, Edinburgh, Vol. 1, 150
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Architecture
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Architectural features
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Stone carvings
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Monuments
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Market Crosses
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Mercat Crosses
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Scotland
>
Edinburgh
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