"Scottish Snippets"

"Colour Supplement"

9 December, 2006

Each week the Rampant Scotland Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the weather and the seasons, plus the flora and fauna of the current week around Scotland. There are often so many such graphics of Scottish subjects worth including that this separate "colour supplement" is created where some of the best pictures can be displayed in a larger format. Here is this week's crop of Scottish views!


It was getting towards closing time at Edinburgh Castle when I arrived with my camera and tripod. This meant that the castle esplanade in front of the castle (where the Military Tattoo is performed in August each year) was relatively free of passing pedestrians - making photography that bit easier.


Calton Hill is another volcanic plug near the centre of Edinburgh, which is seen from Princes Street, the main shopping area of the Capital. On the left is the spire of the Tolbooth Kirk (also known as St John's Highland Church). It has the highest steeple of all the churches in Edinburgh (73 metres, 240 feet) but is now the ticket office and meeting place for the Edinburgh Festival. Next is the outline of Edinburgh Castle, followed by the clock tower on top of the Balmoral Hotel. To the right of that is the top of the Scott Monument in Princes Street. The large, Grecian style monument on Calton Hill itself commemorates Dugald Stewart (1753-1828). He was a son of the Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University. From 1775, father and son held the Professorship jointly. The monument was designed by Sir William Playfair and is modelled on one erected by Lysicrates in Athens in the 4th century.


The Bank of Scotland (now part of the HBOS Group) has overlooked Princes Street and its gardens from The Mound since 1801. It was extended in the Scottish baroque style in 1865-70. Internally, the building is palatial but there is no longer a banking hall serving customers.


Seen in the setting sun earlier this week, are two of the buildings on top of Calton Hill. The twelve Grecian columns are all that were built of a "National Monument" to those who died in the Napoleonic Wars. Finance for the project ran out, leaving this prominent section as an inspiration for other architects to be more successful in creating the "Athens of the North." To the right, is the Nelson Monument, which was dedicated in 1807, two years after the Battle of Trafalgar. The 108 foot tower was designed by Robert Burn to resemble an inverted telescope and houses a museum to Nelson.


Jenners Department Store - the "Harrods of Edinburgh" - was built in 1895. The ornate decoration is typical of the opulent detail of the Victorians. There is a tea-room on one of the upper floors which looks out over Princes Street and the castle - a unique view.


The Ferris wheel (covered in coloured lights at night) rotates beside the Scott Monument in Princes Street Gardens as part of Edinburgh festive season. There are also merry-go-rounds and a large number of stalls in a German-style market (though the one selling Scottish cheese seemed to be doing a roaring trade).

If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page





Where else would you like to go in Scotland?








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