Monuments at Corstorphine

Category

Library Item

Item no

580

Title

Monuments at Corstorphine

Description

Two burial niches cut into the wall of a building. Heraldic features decorate both tombs. Life size statues are lain across the top of the tombs. Both recesses are arched, one being pointed at the top. Between the two tombs is an open wooden door. In the room flagstones cover part of the floor. The floor has upturned earth on it. A window which is out of view is to the right of the picture.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1827

Size

15 x 24 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Two burial niches belonging to the Forrester family in Corstophine Collegiate Church. Each niche contains carvings of man and wife lying on stone altar, the one on the left is Sir John Forrester and his wife. Altars and archways are decorated with heraldic shields and motifs.

Corstorphine was originally a separate village west of Edinburgh. It has been incorporated into the city and is now one of its most significant suburbs. The Forrester Family, who built Corstorphine Castle, controlled the area's lands from the 14th to the 18th Century. The Castle was dismantled in the 18th Century, but its doocot, or dovecot remains. The lands were subsequently owned by the Dicks, a family of Edinburgh lawyers and merchants, and later the Dicksons. Corsorphine is now home to Edinburgh Zoo.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Stone carvings

Architecture > Monuments > Gravestones

Architecture > Monuments > Tombs

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Protestant churches

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