Field Visit
Date 13 May 2002
Event ID 613336
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/613336
Rectangular stone carved with two porters (top left) carrying a barrel on a pole resting on their shoulders; a man in a ship with a lee-board and the Scottish ensign (bottom left); a crane (top right), the machinery of which consists of a broad wheel. The wheel is 'made to revolve like the wire cylinder of a squirrel's cage, by a poor labourer who occupies the quadruped's place, and clambers up, Sisyphus-like, in his endless treadmill.' (1). At the bottom right of the stone is a building, 'resembling a mill or two-storeyed granary' (3), on the roof of which the crane stands. The crane is hoisting a large barrel.
The original stone or tablet of the Association of Porters was sited near the top of the Tolbooth Wynd over the archway leading into a courtyard. By 1901 it was placed over the entrance to the Old Sugar House Close, Tolbooth Wynd.
The method of carrying an object on a pole resting on the shoulders of two men was known as a stang or sting lift. (2)
Inspected By : I.C. Grant
Inscriptions : At the top of the stone: 1678
Below the date: GR
On metal plaque below Porters' Stone: PORTERS' STONE / COPY OF A 17TH C. TRADE STONE / ORIGINALLY IN TOLBOOTH WYND
Signatures : None
Design period : 1678
Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0819)
