Archaeology Notes
Event ID 714191
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/714191
NT27SE 271 25750 73551
Oldest statue in Edinburgh, and possibly oldest lead equestrian statue in UK. Mylne's original pedestal of Craigleith stone. Statue completed within lifetime of the king (died 6 Febrary 1685), at cost of #2,580. Mylne was paid #938.14s. for pedestal. Height of statue c.8 feet from top of pedestal. Weight reputed to be c.6 tons.
A G Forgie 1952
Life-size equestrian lead statue of Charles II as Caesar. Supplied in 1685 by James Smith, Surveyor of the King's Works, probably imported from Holland. Pedestal 1835, a near replica of Robert Mylne's, incorporating marble inscription tablet of 1685. Statue restored in 1824-35 and again by H S Gamley, 1922, and E R Bevan, 1951-2.
J Gifford, C McWilliam and D Walker 1984
Painted white at the behest of the City Fathers, 1767. Following great fire of November 1924 spent nine years in storage in Calton jail.
M T R B Turnbull 1989.