Edinburgh from the Braid Hills

Category

Library Item

Item no

690

Title

Edinburgh from the Braid Hills

Description

A view of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags rising above Edinburgh. Beyond the city is the Firth of Forth. In the foreground there is a small gorge with a stream and people at the bottom of it.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1837

Size

18 x 36 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The Braid Hills lie south of Edinburgh, between Blackford Hill and the Pentlands. Today most of this area is taken up with golf courses.

View a map of the Braid Hills

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.

Sailsbury crags were formed by a combination of volcanic activity and glacial erosion. James Hutton's studies of the Crags formed an important part of his 1788 work 'Theory of the Earth', the book that earned him his reputation as the founder of modern geology.

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Related subjects

Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

Landscape > Land > Hills

Landscape > Water > Seas

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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