Scott’s Monument on Princes Street, Edinburgh, as seen from the opposite side of Princes Street Gardens. Built between 1840 and 1846 to commemorate Sir Walter Scott, there are apparently 287 steps to the top, although I am embarrassed to say I haven’t trod a single one.
I’ll have to change that soon.
Scott’s dog, Maida is included in the sculpture at the base of the monument.
Hi Eleanor, thanks for that – I will think of that next time I see the monument too. I love your illustration by the way, very pretty. Take a look everyone, here: http://www.eleanormharris.co.uk
I can’t walk down Princes Street any more without thinking of John Ruskin’s ironic description of the Scott Monument as a giant candle-snuffer in the industrialised city: ‘the extensive glass roofs of the railway station, and the tall chimney of the gasworks, inflates the Caledonian mind, contemplative around the spot where the last of its minstrels appears to be awaiting eternal extinction under his special extinguisher…’