Model of Arthur’s Seat
Date
1856
Creator - Organisation
Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, (est.1791), Cartographer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (box): 199mm
width (box): 319mm
depth (box): 47mm
width (box): 319mm
depth (box): 47mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Three-dimensional relief map of Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland, showing the contours of the extinct volcano and several bodies of water, including Dunstapie Loch and Duddingtston Loch. Three red lines have been drawn onto the model’s surface, intersecting at the highest point of the Seat. A simple four-point compass rose also appears, upper right.
The plaster model is enclosed in a simple ebonised wooden box, the upper side glazed, with the numerals ‘1900-126’ painted in white on the lower edge.
Sir Henry James (1803-1877) British surveyor, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1848. He acted as Director General of the Ordnance Survey 1854-1875.
The plaster model is enclosed in a simple ebonised wooden box, the upper side glazed, with the numerals ‘1900-126’ painted in white on the lower edge.
Sir Henry James (1803-1877) British surveyor, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1848. He acted as Director General of the Ordnance Survey 1854-1875.
Object history
Presented by Henry James, 1856.
The model was sent to the Royal Society to accompany the paper ‘On the deflections of the plumb-line at Arthur’s Seat, and on the mean specific gravity of the Earth’, Henry James Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, v.146 (1856) pp.591-606.
In the accompanying text (p.592) James states that: ‘I forward herewith a model of Arthur’s Seat, made from the contoured plan on the scale of 6 inches to a mile, and also an impression of the plan itself, with sections showing the geological structure of Arthur’s Seat…’ The plan and section form plates 32-33 of the printed paper.
The model was sent to the Royal Society to accompany the paper ‘On the deflections of the plumb-line at Arthur’s Seat, and on the mean specific gravity of the Earth’, Henry James Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, v.146 (1856) pp.591-606.
In the accompanying text (p.592) James states that: ‘I forward herewith a model of Arthur’s Seat, made from the contoured plan on the scale of 6 inches to a mile, and also an impression of the plan itself, with sections showing the geological structure of Arthur’s Seat…’ The plan and section form plates 32-33 of the printed paper.
Associated place