Well House Tower

Category

Library Item

Item no

637

Title

Well House Tower

Description

A group of people stand in front of a derelict tower and wall. The group consists of a man, a woman and children. Two other figures stand under an arch. A rocky outcrop with a fortified wall and watchtower is above them. A small stream runs underground and exits under the wall.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1818

Size

21 x 14 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Fragments of the Well Tower still survive in Princes Street Gardens, immediately beneath the castle rock. The Tower, probably built in the mid-14th century, provided access to a natural spring which, until 1821, produced a source of fresh water for the castle. As James Skene suggests, the Well Tower also safeguarded the end of the city walls where it was most vulnerable(1) . Immediately to the north of the tower was the Nor'Loch, which was eventually drained to make way for Princes Street Gardens. As a boy Skene, played on the rocky ground descending from the Castle Esplanade to the Well Tower.

In the 1820s, James Skene was responsible for overseeing the drainage of the Loch and the laying out of Princes Street Gardens. He explored the immediate vicinity of the Well Tower, and noted a connecting walkway which linked the Well Tower to a smaller fortification higher up the castle Rock (visible in the water colour), and the remains of a thick door or sally port leading out to the walkway. He made a number of finds, including "silver pennies of the Edwards" which had been paid to English soldiers during the Scottish Wars of Independence, and the remains of a 48lb cannon shot, its size and trajectory, consistent with weaponry used by the Regent Morton in 1572. In the spring of 1820, workman digging in the vicinity of the Well Tower, chanced upon a coffin which contained the skeletal remains of three human bodies. A tall skeleton lay in a central position, with two shorter skeletons positioned either side. The location and contents of the coffin suggested the tale of a man by the name of Sinclair, who in 1628, had been found guilty of committing incest with his two sisters, and was later drowned in the Nor' Loch. Close to the coffin, lay the bones of an infant, possibly the victim of a child murder. Skene's not entirely serious quest for the remains of St Giles, allegedly stolen by protestant reformers and hurled in the Nor'Loch, proved fruitless. In 1822 Skene presented his findings to the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was secretary.
(1) Skene, J, Remarks on the Well-House Tower situated at the foot of the Castle Rock of Edinburgh,, Archaeol Scot, vol.2, 1822, 469

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Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

Landscape > Land > Rock formations

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Infrastructure > Trails and paths

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