Arthur's Seat ( gd, Suidhe Artair, ) is an ancient
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...
which is the main peak of the group of hills in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, which form most of
Holyrood Park, described by
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated just to the east of the city centre, about to the east of
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...
. The hill rises above the city to a height of , provides excellent panoramic views of the city and beyond, 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. At a spur of the hill,
Salisbury Crags has historically been a
rock climbing
Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...
venue with routes of various degrees of difficulty. Until recently rock climbing was restricted to the South Quarry, but access is currently banned altogether by Historic Environment Scotland.
Name
It is sometimes said that its name is derived from legends pertaining to
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...
, such as the reference in ''
Y Gododdin''. Some support for this may be provided by several other hilltop and mountaintop features in Britain which bear the same or similar names, such as the peak of Ben Arthur (
The Cobbler
The Cobbler ( gd, Beinn Artair) is an mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is a Corbett, and is an important site for rock climbing in the Southern Highlands. Many maps include the name Ben Arthur (an a ...
) in the western highlands, sometimes known as Arthur's Seat, and Arthur's Chair on the ridge called
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
Stone Arthur is properly the south western ridge of Great Rigg, but was given the statu ...
in the English
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or '' fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
. There is no traditional
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
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
Arthur's Seat is the largest of the three parts of the Arthur's Seat Volcano
site of special scientific interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(the other parts being
Calton Hill and the
Castle Rock) which is designated to protect its important geology (see below), grassland habitats and uncommon plant and animal species.
Like the rock on which Edinburgh Castle is built, it was formed by volcanic system of early
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...
age (lava samples have been dated at 341 to 335 million years old),
which was eroded by a
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
moving from west to east during the
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...
(approximately the last two million years), exposing rocky
crag
Crag may refer to:
* Crag (climbing), a cliff or group of cliffs, in any location, which is or may be suitable for climbing
* Crag (dice game), a dice game played with three dice
* Crag, Arizona, US
* Crag, West Virginia, US
* Crag and tail, a ...
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
In heraldry, the term attitude describes the ''position'' in which a figure (animal or human) is emblazoned as a charge, a supporter, or as a crest. The attitude of an heraldic figure always precedes any reference to the tincture of the figure ...
. 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 (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role ...
observed that the deposition of the
sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
and formation of the
igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
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
Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro,
is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...
sills that can be seen in the Section.
The hill bears a strong resemblance to the
Cavehill in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
in terms of its geology and proximity to a major urban site.
Human history
A
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork 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 Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
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
The Votadini, also known as the ''Uotadini'', ''Wotādīni'', ''Votādīni'', or ''Otadini'' were a Celtic Britons, Brittonic people of the British Iron Age, Iron Age in Great Britain. Their territory was in what is now south-east Scotland and ...
, who were the subject of the poem ''
Y Gododdin'', which is thought to have been written about 600
AD.
Two stony banks on the east side of the hill represent the remains of an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
hill-fort and a series of cultivation terraces are obvious above the road just beyond and best viewed from Duddingston.
On 1 May 1590, to celebrate the safe return of
James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
and
Anna of Denmark, a bonfire was lit that night on the Salisbury Crags fuelled with ten loads of coal and six barrels of tar.
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
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
as a form of work relief.
This route has been closed since 2018 after 50 tons of rock fell from the cliffs above.
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. The purpose has remained a mystery ever since the discovery. A strong 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 in 1828. There were 16 known victims of the serial-killers plus the first person sold "to the doctors", namely a man who had died of natural causes. However, the murder victims were primarily female, while the eight surviving figures are male. Alternatively, the coffins may have represented the 16 bodies sold to the doctors, plus that of the final victim who remained unburied at the time of the duo's arrest, but was, as a destitute beggar, very likely dissected in any case. The surviving coffins are now displayed in Edinburgh'
National Museum of Scotland
The prominence of Arthur's Seat over Edinburgh has attracted various groups and has a particular significance to the history of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
, because this is where the nation of Scotland was dedicated in 1840 "for the preaching of the gospel". The
apostle,
Orson Pratt
Orson Pratt Sr. (September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881) was an American mathematician and religious leader who was an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints). He became a member of the ...
, arrived in Scotland in early 1850 and climbed the hill to pray to God for more converts.
In 1884, alpine mountain guide
Emile Rey visited Edinburgh where he climbed Arthur's Seat, local tradition stating that before doing so he estimated it would take much of the day to reach the top.
Mythology
Arthur's Seat is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for
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, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...
, the legendary castle and court of the Romano-British warrior-chief,
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...
.
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 David I may refer to:
* David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399
* David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741)
* David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881)
* David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048)
* 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
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Ref ...
on the spot. The burgh arms of the
Canongate
The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Old Town, Edinburgh, Edinburgh's ...
display the head of the stag with the cross framed by its antlers.
The slopes of the hill facing Holyrood are where young girls in Edinburgh traditionally bathe their faces in the dew on
May Day to make themselves more beautiful. The poem "Caller Water" (fresh cool water), written by
Robert Fergusson in 1773, contains the lines:
In popular culture
The location features in ''The Scottish Chiefs'', a book written by Jane Porter, published in 1921.
Arthur's Seat plays a prominent role in Scottish writer
James Hogg's 1824 novel ''
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
''The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: Written by Himself: With a detail of curious traditionary facts and other evidence by the editor'' is a novel by the Scottish author James Hogg, published anonymously in 1824.
The p ...
''. 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 Brocken spectre (British English; American spelling Brocken specter; german: Brockengespenst), also called Brocken bow, mountain spectre, or spectre of the Brocken is the magnified (and apparently enormous) shadow of an observer cast in mid ai ...
, a strange phenomenon of the light, which causes George to believe that he is seeing a ghost. In the confusion, George nearly kills Robert, but they both escape to the bottom of the hill as the fog begins to clear.
In January 1829, in his "General Preface" to the
Waverley Novels, Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
included Arthur's Seat among the "solitary and romantic environs" he roamed in the 1780s as a schoolboy with "a chosen friend", telling each other "interminable tales of knight-errantry and battles and enchantments",
Arthur's Seat has a passing mention as one of the sights of Edinburgh in the novel ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ...
'' by
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...
.
The 2009 novel
''One Day'' by
David Nicholls begins and ends with the main characters, Emma and Dexter, climbing Arthur's Seat after their graduation from university. Arthur's Seat is shown at the end of the 2011 film
''One Day'', which was based on the novel.
In
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...
's novel, ''The Underground City'' (or, ''
The Child of the Cavern
''Les Indes noires'' (literally ''The Black Indies'') is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, serialized in ''Le Temps'' in March and April 1877 and published immediately afterward by Pierre-Jules Hetzel. The first UK edition was published in ...
''), Nell, a young girl who is an inhabitant of Verne's Underground City, is taken to Arthur's Seat to view her first sunrise. She has never before been above ground and is being acclimatized to life above ground.
In
Catherine Sinclair
Catherine Sinclair (17 April 1800 – 6 August 1864) was a Scottish novelist and children's writer, who departed from the moralising approach common in that period. She is credited with discovering that the author of the initially anonymous W ...
's ''Holiday House'', the children climb Arthur's Seat during a rare day away from their nurse. On the way down the children misbehave, almost causing Laura to fall over a cliff. She catches herself, and her brother comes to her rescue.
Arthur's Seat is featured in several of
Ian Rankin
Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Early life
Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a sch ...
's novels.
In
Stephen Baxter's disaster novel
''Moonseed'', the volcano reactivates and obliterates most of Edinburgh during the first act of Earth's eventual destruction.
The 17 coffins found on Arthur's Seat are the subject of
Philip Caveney's 2014 teen fiction novel ''Seventeen Coffins''.
In
Julian May's
''Galactic Milieu'' series, Arthur's Seat has a central role as one of the sites of the Great Intervention. One of the main families in the series lives in Willowbrae on the slopes of the hill.
In ''Z. Rex'', the first part of
Steve Cole
Steve Cole (born August 17, 1970) is an American smooth jazz saxophonist. He is also a professor/adviser of music business at the University of St. Thomas.
Early career and education
Cole was born in Chicago, Illinois and began to play musi ...
's ''The Hunting'' trilogy, Arthur's Seat is the first location that Zed and Adam Adler land after they reach Scotland, following their long flight across the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
.
In the 2017 film,
T2 Trainspotting,
Ewan McGregor and
Ewen Bremner ran up the hill to begin Spud’s detox.
See also
*
Arthurs Seat, Victoria, hill in Australia named for its resemblance to the Edinburgh Arthur's Seat.
*
Mountains and hills of Scotland
Scotland is the most mountainous country in the United Kingdom. Scotland's mountain ranges can be divided in a roughly north to south direction into: the Scottish Highlands, the Central Belt and the Southern Uplands, the latter two primarily belo ...
References
External links
Bartholomew's ''Chronological map of Edinburgh'' (1919)
*Computer generated summit panorama
Arthur's Seat
*University of Edinburgh Undergraduate Geology Notes, explains th
very well
Arthur's Seat Coffins
at the National Museum of Scotland
*Th
miniature coffins
found in 1836
British Geological Survey report on the Arthur's Seat rockfall, Edinburgh, February 2007
* ttps://www.360routes.com/2020/10/28/arthurs-seat-edinburgh/ Virtual Tour around Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthurs Seat, Edinburgh
Archaeological sites in Edinburgh
Locations associated with Arthurian legend
Carboniferous volcanoes
Hills of Edinburgh
Marilyns of Scotland
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scotland
Volcanic plugs of Scotland
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Scotland
Carboniferous Scotland