T H E   S C O T T   M O N U M E N T
E  D  I  N  B  U  R  G  H

Here are my photographs of The Scott Monument in Edinburgh, it is a landmark Victorian Gothic structure in Princes Street Gardens. Designed by George Meikle Kemp who won a competition to design the monument, and built between 1841-1844 and inaugurated on the 15th of August 1846 as a monument to the Scottish author, Sir Walter Scott. It stands 200ft & 6" tall (61.1m) tall.
It is constructed out of binnie stone which was taken from shale workings near Linlithgow, this stone apparently contain natural oils which are said to aid with preservation but the seeping of these oils is also to blame for the black look of the monument because Victorian Edinburgh was notoriously filthy, and the oils soaked up the smoke, resulting in the black tower we see today.
You can climb 287 steps up a narrow spiral starcase to get a viewing platform. and there are 64 statuettes, each one representing characters from Sir Walter Scotts works.
The statue of Sir Walter Scott beneath the monument was designed by John Steel and is made from white marble

The pictures were taken on the 7th of May 2005 but there was a lot of clutter near the base so I only took a few photos and I hope to add a few more during 2008

--------------------

All photographs are © Copyright of John Webster at Decadence.me.uk do not copy or use without permission (contact)