This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The Genius Loci of the Athens of the North: The Cultural Significance of Edinburgh’s Calton Hill. Kirsten Carter McKee PhD The University of Edinburgh 2013 2 Contents Acknowledgments List of Plates Introduction Section 1: Rural Urbanism to Urban Arcadia Chapter 1- The Visual Chapter 2- Linking the Urban Landscape Chapter 3- Merging the Visual with the Practical Section 2: Death Commemoration and Memory Chapter 4- The Memorial; Ecclesiastical, Secular and National Chapter 5- Public and Private Memorial in the 19th-century Section 3: Unionism to Nationalism Chapter 6 – The Elite Perspective and the Populist Reality Chapter 7- Cultural Nationalism and the Municipal State Conclusion Bibliography Appendices Appendix 1:Archival Sources Appendix 2: Plates 3 4 Acknowledgements Many people should be particularly thanked for their help in researching, collating and producing this thesis. Firstly, truly special thanks goes to my academic supervisor John Lowrey at the University of Edinburgh, whose unending support, patience and friendship has made what has at times been an arduous task thoroughly enjoyable and always intellectually stimulating. I will miss our Friday morning coffee sessions where much was unravelled, deliberated and discussed. My supervisor at Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Fiona MacDonald has also played a particularly special role in supporting and encouraging me at times when the project just seemed too big to take on. Her gentle encouragement has always left me buoyant and stimulated to forge ahead with the task at hand. Other members of staff of the University of Edinburgh have also been extremely supportive, and I would like to thank in particular, Ruxandra-Iulia Stoica, Alex Bremner, Iain Boyd Whyte, Margaret Stewart, Viccy Coltman and Dimitris Theodossopoulos. Jim Lawson provided extremely helpful and thorough editing notes for this final version, for which special thanks and appreciation must also be noted. At EWHT, the staff, Board and specifically the members of the Calton Hill working group have been endlessly supportive and encouraging throughout this process and I have enjoyed sharing my findings while viewing the on- going conservation of the hill first hand. It is heart-warming to see such thoughtful and skilled care being applied to bringing the hill into 21st-century use. Financing for this studentship came from collaborative funding provided by the AHRC and EWHT. Additional financing for research and travel came from the INTACH UK Trust, and through numerous student bursaries available at the University of Edinburgh. It is highly unlikely that I would ever have been able to dream of undertaking such a studentship without this financial support, and in a world where financed studentships are increasingly difficult to come across, I feel exceptionally fortunate and truly grateful for the opportunities given to me by these organisations. This work has been largely archive-based, and assistance from the staff at Edinburgh City Archives, Edinburgh City Library, the National Library of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy, the National Gallery of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh Library, in particular, those based in the Art and Architecture library and the Centre for Special Collections, the Burns Archive in Ayrshire, the RIBA Archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the 5 British Library, and The Bodleian at the University of Oxford have been extremely important in putting together this work. There have also been three particularly generous people whom I have had the good fortune to meet whilst carrying out my research. These are; The Late Professor Charles McKean, Dr James Simpson OBE and Dr Allen Simpson. These people have given me their time and information willingly, and without expectation of recompense, and their example is one that I hope to emulate when approached by junior scholars in future years. Finally, I would never have been able to complete this work without the support and encouragement of my family, and in particular, Paul Carter – who started out at the beginning of this research as my boyfriend and ended it as my husband, and father to my daughter. Thank you so much for the endless tea making, dishwashing, and rant-listening when I have been at my lowest ebb. This is wholly dedicated to you and to our daughter, Holly. 6 7 List of Plates Introduction Plate i Aerial view of Calton Hill taken from east, courtesy of Edinburgh World Heritage Trust library. Plate ii William H. Playfair, Design for a New Town between Edinburgh and Leith, December 1819. Taken from Byrom, C. The Edinburgh New Town Gardens: 'Blessings as well as Beauties', 2005. Plate iii James Gordon.Edinodunensis Tabulam, 1647. Detail of Calton Hill and the associated hamlets on the north side of Edinburgh. Courtesy of National Library of Scotland. Plate iv Alexander Kincaid, A Plan of the City and Suburbs of Edinburgh, 1784. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. Plate v John Ainslie, ”Old and New Town of Edinburgh and Leith with the proposed docks”, 1804. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. Section 1 Plate 1.1 J. S. Storer, The Old Observatory, (Calton Hill), 1820. Taken from Grant, J. Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh: Its history, its people, and its places, 1881. Plate 1.2 James Craig, Proposal for the Edinburgh Observatory, undated, circa 1776, Gough Collection, Courtesy of the Bodleian Library. Plate 1.3a John Laurie, Plan of half the acre of ground at the top of Calton Hill - site of the Observatory, 20 April 1776, Macleod Bundles, Courtesy of Edinburgh City Archives. Plate 1.3b John Laurie, Plan of half the acre of ground at the top of Calton Hill - site of the Observatory, 20 April 1776, Miscellaneous Items and Deposits, SL12, Courtesy of Edinburgh City Archives. Plate 1.4 John Slezer, “The North Prospect of the City of Edinburgh”, 1693, Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. Plate 1.5 Stewart, M and Mullen, P. Interpretation of the proposal by the 6th Earl of Mar for the improvement of Edinburgh, 1722-1727, 2004. Courtesy of Margaret Stewart, University of Edinburgh. Plate 1.6 Robert Adam, David Hume monument in Old Calton Burial Ground, 1777, Author’s own photo. 8 Plate 1.7 View of David Hume Monument from North Bridge. The Playfair Observatory viewed directly behind sits on the same spot as Craig’s original Octagonal Observatory. Author’s own photo. Plate 1.8. Robert Adam, Bridewell Design 1, 1791, Taken from Markus, T. in Markus, T. Order in Space and Society, 1982. Plate 1.9 James Wardrup, Design for a Bridewell in Edinburgh, 1791, Taken from Markus, T. in Markus, T. Order in Space and Society, 1982. Plate 1.10 John Baxter, Design for a Bridewell in Edinburgh, 1791. Courtesy of RCAHMS. Plate 1.11 George Dance, A plan of Newgate Prison in London, 1800, Crace Collection, Courtesy of the British Library. Plate 1.12 Robert Adam, Bridewell Design 3, 1791, Taken from Markus, T. in Markus, T. Order in Space and Society, 1982. Plate 1.13 Robert Adam, Final Bridewell Design, 1791, Taken from Markus, T. in Markus, T. Order in Space and Society, 1982. Plate 1.14 Jeremy Bentham, Panopticon, 1787. Taken from Bentham, J., Panopticon: Or, the Inspection-House. Containing the Idea of a New Principle of Construction Applicable to Any Sort of Establishment, in Which Persons ... Are to Be Kept ... And in Particular to Penitentiary-Houses, Prisons, ... In a Series of Letters, Written In ... 1787, 1791. Plate 1.15 Robert Adam, “Bridge over (?) from Princes Street at (?) Calton Hill Edinburgh,” undated, circa 1791. Detail of Bridewell. Courtesy of RCAHMS Plate 1.16 Robert Adam, “Sketch of a bridge of communication between the New Town & buildings on the Calton Hill, forming an entrance to the Old Town by the Calton Street & Leith Wynd to the High Street of Edinburgh”, undated, circa 1791, Courtesy of RCAHMS. Plate 1.17 Robert Barker, Edinburgh From the Calton Hill, 1792. Detail showing unfinished Octagonal Observatory. Courtesy of Centre for Special Collections, University of Edinburgh. Plate 1.18 Alexander Nasmyth, Proposal for Nelson Obelisk, 1806. Taken from Nasmyth, J and Smiles, S. James Nasmyth, Engineer, and Autobiography, 1897. Plate 1.19 W.Tombleton after Thomas Shepherd, Nelson’s Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh. Taken from Shepherd, T, Modern Athens! Displayed in a series of views: or Edinburgh in the nineteenth century: exhibiting the whole of the new buildings, modern improvements, antiquities, and 9 picturesque scenery, of the Scottish metropolis and its environs, 1829. Plate 1.20 Robert Adam, Brizlee Tower, Alnwick, 1781. Courtesy of www.scran.ac.uk. Plate 1.21 W.Tombleton after Thomas Shepherd, The New Jail from Calton Hill. Taken from Shepherd, T, Modern Athens! Displayed in a series of views: or Edinburgh in the nineteenth century: exhibiting the whole of the new buildings, modern improvements, antiquities, and picturesque scenery, of the Scottish metropolis and its environs, 1829. Plate 1.22 W.Tombleton after Thomas Shepherd, Waterloo Place, London (n.d.) Taken from Summerson, J.