Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh
| Arthur's Seat | |
|---|---|
 Arthur's Seat (right) from Blackford Hill |
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| Elevation | 251 m (823 ft) |
| Prominence | c. 186 m (610 ft) |
| Listing | Marilyn |
| Location | |
| Location | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°56′39″N 3°09′43″W / 55.94417°N 3.16194°WCoordinates: 55°56′39″N 3°09′43″W / 55.94417°N 3.16194°W |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 66 |
| OS grid | NT275729 |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | hillwalking |
Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".[1] It is situated in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the east, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch.
Many claim that its name is derived from the myriad legends pertaining to King Arthur, such as the reference in Y Gododdin. Some support for this theory may be provided by the fact that several other hilltop and mountaintop features in Britain bear the same or similar names, such as the peak of Ben Arthur (The Cobbler) in the western highlands, sometimes known as Arthur's Seat,[2] and Arthur's Chair on the ridge called Stone Arthur in the Cumbrian lake district. There is no traditional Scottish Gaelic name for Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh but William Maitland proposed that the name was a corruption of Àrd-na-Said, implying the "Height of Arrows", which over the years became Arthur's Seat (perhaps via "Archer's Seat").[3] Alternatively, John Milne's proposed etymology of Àrd-thir Suidhe meaning "place on high ground" uncomfortably requires the transposition of the name elements.[4]
Contents |
[edit] Geology
Like the castle rock on which Edinburgh Castle is built, it was formed by an extinct volcano system of Carboniferous age (approximately 350 million years old), which was eroded by a glacier moving from west to east during the Quaternary (approximately the last two million years), exposing rocky crags to the west and leaving a tail of material swept to the east.[5] This is how the Salisbury Crags formed and became basalt cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the city centre. From some angles, Arthur's Seat resembles a lion couchant.[6][7] Two of the several extinct vents make up the 'Lion's Head' and the 'Lion's Haunch'.
Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags adjoining it helped form the ideas of modern geology as it is currently understood. It was in these areas that James Hutton observed that the deposition of the sedimentary and formation of the igneous rocks must have occurred at different ages and in different ways than the thinking of that time said they did. It is possible to see a particular area known as Hutton’s Section in the Salisbury Crags where the magma forced its way through the sedimentary rocks above it to form the dolerite sills that can be seen in the Section.
The hill bears a strong resemblance to the Cavehill in Belfast in terms of its geology and proximity to a major urban site.
[edit] Human history
A hill fort occupies the summit of Arthur's Seat and the subsidiary hill, Crow Hill.[8]
Hill fort defences are visible round the main massif of Arthur's Seat at Dunsapie Hill and above Samson's Ribs, in the latter cases certainly of prehistoric date. These forts are likely to have been centres of power of the Votadini, who were the subject of the poem Y Gododdin which is thought to have been written about 600 AD in their hillfort on Edinburgh castle crag. The poem includes a simile comparing a warrior to an 'Arthur' who some have thought to refer to King Arthur which (if not a later addition) may be one of the earliest references to Arthur, and hints at a possibility that his fame might have led to one of the hillforts — and, subsequently, the hill — being named after him.
Two stony banks on the east side of the hill represent the remains of an Iron Age hill-fort and a series of cultivation terraces are obvious above the road just beyond and best viewed from Duddingston. In 1836, just below the summit, seventeen small wooden coffins, each containing a carved figure, were found in a small cave. Their existence has never been satisfactorily explained. Associations with witchcraft have been suggested. Alternatively, they may be a memorial to the victims of the infamous William Burke (1792–1829) and William Hare (died c. 1860).
A track rising along the top of the slope immediately under Salisbury Crags has long been a popular walk, giving a view over the city. It became known as the Radical Road after it was paved in the aftermath of the Radical War of 1820, using the labour of unemployed weavers from the west of Scotland at the suggestion of Walter Scott as a form of work relief.[9]
Arthur's Seat also has a particular significance to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because this is where the nation of Scotland was dedicated in 1840 "for the preaching of the gospel".[10] The apostle, Orson Pratt, arrived in Scotland in early 1840 and climbed the hill to pray to God for more converts.[11][12]
[edit] Mythology
Arthur's Seat is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot, the legendary castle and court of the Romano-British warrior-chief, King Arthur. It seems more likely, however, that the name is a corruption of the Gaelic ard na saigheid, meaning 'hill of the archers'.
Tradition has it that it was at the foot of Arthur's Seat, covered by the forest of Drumselch, that Scotland's 12th-century king David I of Scotland encountered a stag while out hunting. Having fallen from his horse and about to be gored, he had a vision of a cross appearing between the animal's antlers, before it inexplicably turned away, leaving him unharmed. David, believing his life had been spared through divine intervention, founded Holyrood Abbey on the spot. The burgh arms of the Canongate display the head of the stag with the cross framed by its antlers.
The slopes of the hill have been the site where young girls in Edinburgh traditionally bathe their faces in the dew on May Day to make themselves more beautiful. The poem 'Auld Reekie', written by Robert Fergusson in 1773, contains the lines:
- On May-day, in a fairy ring,
- We've seen them round St Anthon's spring,
- Frae grass the cauler dew draps wring
- To weet their een,
- And water clear as crystal spring
- To synd them clean
In 1836 five boys hunting for rabbits found a set of 17 miniature coffins containing small wooden figures in a cave on the crags of Arthur's Seat. Their purpose has remained a mystery ever since the discovery. The contemporary belief was that they were made for witchcraft, though more recently it has been suggested that they might be connected with the murders committed by Burke and Hare a few years earlier. The numbers do not, however, tally, as there were 16 known victims of the serial-killers, whereas there were 17 coffins in all. They are now displayed in Edinburgh's Royal Museum.
[edit] References in Literature
Arthur's Seat plays a prominent role in Scottish writer James Hogg's novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824). Robert and George Colwan, two feuding brothers, are caught in a fog atop Arthur's Seat and witness what could be interpreted as a brocken spectre, a strange phenomenon of the light, which causes George to believe that he is seeing a ghost. In the confusion, Robert nearly kills George, but they both escape to the bottom of the hill as the fog begins to clear.
[edit] See also
- Arthurs Seat, Victoria, hill in Australia named for its resemblance to the Edinburgh Arthur's Seat.[13]
- James Hutton, "Father of modern geology" theorised important geological concepts from what he had observed on Arthur's Seat.
- Cavehill
- Paps of Lothian
- List of mountains in Scotland
[edit] References
- ^ Stevenson, Robert Louis (1879). Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes. pp. 21. http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/edingburgh-picturesque-notes/ebook-page-21.asp.
- ^ http://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=3381
- ^ Grant, James. Old and New Edinburgh. http://www.oldandnewedinburgh.co.uk/volume4/page125.html. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
- ^ http://www.us.archive.org/GnuBook/?id=gaelicplacenames00milnuoft#6
- ^ Stuart Piggott (1982). Scotland before History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-470-3.
- ^ Scott, Walter. The Heart of Midlothian. pp. 279. http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Heart_of_Midlothian.html?id=k07J58MzdOQC. Retrieved 2011-09-11. "Arthur's Seat, like a couchant lion of immense size"
- ^ "Arthur's Seat 'Lion' from St. Leonard's Bank". http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1517963. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
- ^ "Edinburgh, Holyrood Park, Arthur'sSeat". http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/52561/details/edinburgh+holyrood+park+arthur+s+seat/. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
- ^ "Overview of Salisbury Crags". http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst250.html. Retrieved 2011-08-30.
- ^ Evans, Richard L. (1984) [1937], Century of Mormonism in Great Britain, Salt Lake City, Utah: Publishers Press, ISBN 9780916095079, OCLC 11642406
- ^ Cuthbert, Muriel (October 1978), "The Saints around the World: Strong Saints in Scotland", Ensign, http://lds.org/ensign/1978/10/the-saints-around-the-world-strong-saints-in-scotland?lang=eng
- ^ Whittaker, David J.; Esplin, Ronald K.; Allen, James B., eds. (1992), "Orson Pratt in Scotland", Men with a mission, 1837-1841: the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, ISBN 9780875795461, OCLC 24375869
- ^ "Murray, John (1775?-1807)". Melbourne University Press. 2008-07-26. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020239b.htm.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur's Seat |
- Walking guide to Arthur's Seat
- Computer generated summit panoramas Arthur's Seat index
- University of Edinburgh Undergraduate Geology Notes, explains the Formation of Arthur's Seat very well
- Arthur's Seat Coffins at the National Museum of Scotland
- The miniature coffins found in 1836
- British Geological Survey report on the Arthur's Seat rockfall, Edinburgh, February 2007
- Stuart McHardy, The Goddess in the Landscape of Scotland
