The Scott Monument

[Patrick Bateman]

Quite probably the best known and most seen monument in Edinburgh. I always wonder why Sir Walter Scott was bestowed with such an honour. I don't doubt that he was a popular and probably important writer but I can't really understand why or who decided to build it. It's especially strange when you consider that Edinburgh is a city with a real love for monuments and statues. Can any Kickbackers shed some light on why it was built?

[hmfc_steve]

Quite probably the best known and most seen monument in Edinburgh. I always wonder why Sir Walter Scott was bestowed with such an honour. I don't doubt that he was a popular and probably important writer but I can't really understand why or who decided to build it. It's especially strange when you consider that Edinburgh is a city with a real love for monuments and statues. Can any Kickbackers shed some light on why it was built?

 

Following Scott's death in 1832, a competition was held to design a monument to him. An unlikely entrant went under the pseudonym "John Morvo", the name of the medieval architect of Melrose Abbey. Morvo was in fact George Meikle Kemp, forty-five year old joiner, draftsman, and self-taught architect. Kemp had feared his lack of architectural qualifications and reputation would disqualify him, but his design (which was similar to an unsuccessful one he had earlier submitted for the design of Glasgow Cathedral) was popular with the competition's judges, and in 1838 Kemp was awarded the contract to construct the monument........

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=edinburgh+scott+monument

[Deek]

Scott was a prolific poet writer and member of high society in Edinburgh. He was a Tory and close to the Royal family. He was extremely popular in Edinburgh, and following his death there was widespread public support to build a commemoration for him.

 

A competition to design and build the monument was held which was won by George Kemp who was an accomplished draughtsman.

[RoaldJensen]

The monument was built because they knew Hearts would like a nice picture to put on the front of their programmes one day

[southside1874]

I think there was little known or discussed about Scots history until Walter got everyone going again.........not 100% sure but did he not make Wallace, Rob Roy and the Bruce quite famous again??

[Cow]

I have lived in Edinburgh for 38 years and have never visited the scott monument , go figure.

[bigwull22]

I think there was little known or discussed about Scots history until Walter got everyone going again.........not 100% sure but did he not make Wallace, Rob Roy and the Bruce quite famous again??

 

And "The Heart of Midlothian"

[Martin_T]

Quite probably the best known and most seen monument in Edinburgh. I always wonder why Sir Walter Scott was bestowed with such an honour. I don't doubt that he was a popular and probably important writer but I can't really understand why or who decided to build it. It's especially strange when you consider that Edinburgh is a city with a real love for monuments and statues. Can any Kickbackers shed some light on why it was built?

 

Sir Walter was a committed man to the British Empire and the idea of the Union, which probably curried favour with the King at the time. His politics were quite right wing, wasn't too keen on giving the ordinary working man the vote for example.

[blondejamtart]

And the George Meikle Kemp memorial is on the road between Eddleston and Peebles...

 

 

Anyway, I'm very glad they did built the Scott Monument - that's where my hubby proposed to me, right at the top!

[davemclaren]

And the George Meikle Kemp memorial is on the road between Eddleston and Peebles...

 

 

Anyway, I'm very glad they did built the Scott Monument - that's where my hubby proposed to me, right at the top!

 

Bet that made his head spin...

[Gabriel]

I have lived in Edinburgh for 38 years and have never visited the scott monument , go figure.

 

Been up once in the Spring and it was freezing. Not an expedition for the more rotund readers of this forum either, as the stairway is extremely narrow towards the top.

[Cade]

He found the Scottish Crown Jewels in a bricked-up hidden room deep in the dungeons of Edinburgh Castle after they went missing a for a couple of hundred years.

 

That deserves a massive monument alone.

[Sterling Archer]

my mum had a client who jumped off it

[Buffalo Bill]

I've only ever been up it one was was threatened with being thrown over the edge.

 

 

Just my damn luck.

[jkbam]

And the George Meikle Kemp memorial is on the road between Eddleston and Peebles...

QUOTE]

 

I've been down that road many times and wondered who he was, so you can learn something almost useful on kickback after all....

[Guest Bilel Mohsni]

He is my favourite author.

 

'Waverly' (penned under a pseudonym) is a fantastic novel. It was his first novel and penned at a time when he was one of the worlds most respected and popular poets... In many editions of the book there is a foreword from Jane Austin where she pays him a witty and backhanded compliment by decrying it as criminal and akin to taking food from the mouths of authors that a talented poet such as Sir Walter should be allowed to venture into the world of novel writing.

 

The story it'self is a tale of an English soldier of Scot's heritage (Waverly) being sent north to investigate the Jacobite unrest and his changing of sides and adventures and experiences thereafter...

 

It is an over-romantic view of those times as much of Scott's work is but a fantastic adventure nontheless.

 

Truly he is a world-recognised figure of our proud literary history that we should all be proud of.

[K1874M]

my mum had a client who jumped off it

 

Too many jokes too little time.

 

 

On a serious note, I remember a mate telling me about that, was it in the mid to late eighties?

[blondejamtart]

I remember coming out of C&As with my mum when I would have been about nine or 10 and a guy had just jumped off it.

[Tynie b]

my mum had a client who jumped off it

 

Nothing...I'm saying NOTHING!!

[Prince Buaben]

my mum had a client who jumped off it

 

:th_o:

[RoaldJensen]

as an aside when I was a kid in stenhouse there used to be a walter scott tower on corstorphine hill. No idea who built it or if its even still there.

[jamboinglasgow]

as an aside when I was a kid in stenhouse there used to be a walter scott tower on corstorphine hill. No idea who built it or if its even still there.

 

pretty sure it is still there, or at least there is a tower up there.

[Boris]

as an aside when I was a kid in stenhouse there used to be a walter scott tower on corstorphine hill. No idea who built it or if its even still there.

 

http://www.corstorphinehill.org.uk/thetower.htm

 

Keeping on the literary theme, I wonder if it's near Rest and Be Thankful?

[redm]

I've just always wondered why it looks a bit like a gothic rocket.

 

Cool monument though. If you were going to have a monument built in your honour, you'd want one like that.

[davemclaren]

I've just always wondered why it looks a bit like a gothic rocket.

 

Cool monument though. If you were going to have a monument built in your honour, you'd want one like that.

 

Thunderbird 1 was modeled on it.

[topcat]

I've just always wondered why it looks a bit like a gothic rocket.

 

Cool monument though. If you were going to have a monument built in your honour, you'd want one like that.

 

It's the very least that Irvine Jambo deserves

[Cade]

Thunderbird 1 was modeled on it.

 

Don't you mean Thunderbird 3?

 

[southside1874]

He is my favourite author.

 

'Waverly' (penned under a pseudonym) is a fantastic novel. It was his first novel and penned at a time when he was one of the worlds most respected and popular poets... In many editions of the book there is a foreword from Jane Austin where she pays him a witty and backhanded compliment by decrying it as criminal and akin to taking food from the mouths of authors that a talented poet such as Sir Walter should be allowed to venture into the world of novel writing.

 

The story it'self is a tale of an English soldier of Scot's heritage (Waverly) being sent north to investigate the Jacobite unrest and his changing of sides and adventures and experiences thereafter...

 

It is an over-romantic view of those times as much of Scott's work is but a fantastic adventure nontheless.

 

Truly he is a world-recognised figure of our proud literary history that we should all be proud of.

 

It is an over-romantic view............

 

[Moriarty]

never been a huge fan tbh.

 

could do with a wash!

[RoaldJensen]

thanks Boris it made me feel all nostalgic.

[Boris]

never been a huge fan tbh.

 

could do with a wash!

 

They tried to sandblast it about a decade ago, perhaps longer than that, but they soon realised that the work involved would have damaged the Monument too much that it would have been in danger of collapse!

 

Given it's proximity to the station and the years of steam trains billowing out smoke it's no surprise it is the colour it is, but don't you think it would look weird if it were clean? I mean I've never known it any other way.

[Boris]

thanks Boris it made me feel all nostalgic.

 

No worries Roald, any time.

[jambovambo]

I remember going up it after school and dropping "super-balls" off it - remember them ? Mid-60s.

 

Oh, boy - did they bounce some ...

 

Then there's the "what the difference between the Scott Monument and Joan Collins ?" joke ...

[Tokyo Drifter]

Always thought it was Selina Scott. Silly me.

[Tom Heaney]

Scott was a prolific poet writer and member of high society in Edinburgh. He was a Tory and close to the Royal family. He was extremely popular in Edinburgh, and following his death there was widespread public support to build a commemoration for him.

 

A competition to design and build the monument was held which was won by George Kemp who was an accomplished draughtsman.

 

And a prominent Freemason a member of Lodge St David 36