Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park

Holyrood Park

Holyrood Park is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt cliffs, and patches of whin providing a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape within its area...

, described by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated in the centre of the city of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (821.9 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking

Hillwalking

In the British Isles, the terms hillwalking or fellwalking are commonly used to describe the recreational outdoor activity of walking on hills and mountains, often with the intention of visiting their summits...

. 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

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

, such as the reference in Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Britonnic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named Catraeth...

. 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

The Cobbler

The Cobbler is a mountain of 884 m height located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland. It is a Corbett...

) in the western highlands, sometimes known as Arthur's Seat, and Arthur's Chair on the ridge called Stone Arthur

Stone Arthur

Stone Arthur is a fell in the English Lake District, an outlier of the Fairfield group in the Eastern Fells. It stands above Grasmere village.-Topography:...

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"). Alternatively, John Milne's proposed etymology of Àrd-thir Suidhe meaning "place on high ground" uncomfortably requires the transposition of the name elements.

Geology

Like the castle rock on which Edinburgh Castle is built, it was formed by an extinct volcano system of Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

age (approximately 350 million years old), which was eroded by a glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

moving from west to east during the Quaternary

Quaternary

The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...

(approximately the last two million years), exposing rocky crag

Cliff

In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...

s to the west and leaving a tail of material swept to the east. 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. 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

James Hutton

James Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. He is considered the father of modern geology...

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

Cavehill

Cavehill, historically known as Ben Madigan , is a basaltic hill overlooking the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the southeastern border of the Antrim Plateau. It is distinguished by its famous 'Napoleon's Nose', a basaltic outcrop which resembles the profile of the famous...

in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

in terms of its geology and proximity to a major urban site.

Human history

A hill fort

Hill fort

A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...

occupies the summit of Arthur's Seat and the subsidiary hill, Crow Hill.

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

Votadini

The Votadini were a people of the Iron Age in Great Britain, and their territory was briefly part of the Roman province Britannia...

, who were the subject of the poem Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Britonnic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named Catraeth...

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 King Arthur

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

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

hill-fort and a series of cultivation terraces are obvious above the road just beyond. 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 seventeen 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

Radical War

The Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the early years of the French Revolution, but had then been repressed...

of 1820, using the labour of unemployed weavers from the west of Scotland at the suggestion of Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

as a form of work relief.

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". The apostle, Orson Pratt

Orson Pratt

Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles...

, arrived in Scotland in early 1840 and climbed the hill to pray to god for more converts.

Mythology

Arthur's Seat is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot

Camelot

Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...

, the legendary castle and court of the Romano-British warrior-chief, King Arthur

King Arthur

. It seems more likely, however, that the name is a corruption of the Gaelic

Gaelic

Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels", including language and culture. As a noun, it may refer to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually.-Gaelic languages:...

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

David I of Scotland

David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

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

Holyrood Abbey

Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded...

on the spot. The burgh arms of the Canongate

Canongate

The Canongate is a small district at the heart of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.The name derives from the main street running through the area: called Canongate without the definite article, "the". Canongate forms the lower, eastern half of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's historic Old Town....

display the head of the stag with the cross framed by its antlers.

The slopes of the hill have been the traditional site where young girls in Edinburgh bathe their faces in the dew on May Day

May Day

May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....

to make themselves more beautiful. The poem 'Auld Reekie', written by Robert Fergusson

Robert Fergusson

Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson followed an essentially bohemian life course in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish enlightenment...

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 forever remained a mystery. 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.

External links

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

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Geology

Human history

Mythology

See also

External links