Carving from Dean Mansion "Man armed with thick pole with a hook at the end, or goat running towards him, bear seizes the goat by the waist another bear is lying dean on the ground"

Description Carving from Dean Mansion "Man armed with thick pole with a hook at the end, or goat running towards him, bear seizes the goat by the waist another bear is lying dean on the ground"

Date 1970

Catalogue Number ED 3536/28

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 533208

Scope and Content 17th-century carved stone, Dean Cemetery, Belford Road, Dean, Edinburgh Dean Cemetery was laid out in 1845 by the architect David Cousin in the extensive grounds of the early 17th-century Dean House, which had been, for many generations, the seat of the Nisbet family, and was demolished earlier that same year. This carving, taken from Dean House, has been built into the south retaining wall of the cemetery. It shows a shepherd, holding a stout pole, trying to rescue a ram from the jaws of a bear or lion which has already killed a ewe. This is probably a Biblical reference (1 Samuel ch 17, v 34). David, preparing to meet the Philistine, addresses Saul: 'when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/325536