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Edinburgh, Holyrood Park, Arthur's Seat
Coffin(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Edinburgh, Holyrood Park, Arthur's Seat
Classification Coffin(S) (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Queen's Park
Canmore ID 157274
Site Number NT27SE 3962
NGR NT 277 728
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/157274
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT27SE 3962 277 728
In 1836, a cache of seventeen miniature coffins was discovered by a group of schoolboys looking for rabbit burrows on the NE flank of Arthur's Seat, and was reported in The Scotsman on Saturday 16 July 1836, some three weeks later. The coffins were found in a small opening in the rock, sealed by stones, and were arranged in three rows: the lower two of eight, and the upper of only one. Each coffin was carved from a single piece of wood (Scots pine), with the exception of the lids which were attached with wire springs or pins, and each was decorated externally with pieces of tin. Inside each coffin, there was a carved wooden figurine in funeral dress. Nine of the coffins and their accompanying figurines were damaged during discovery, but, in 1902, the remaining eight were donated to the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, now part of the National Museums of Scotland.
Information from RCAHMS (ARG), 3 November 1999
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1902; C R Wickham-Jones 1996; NMRS, MS/726/96 (81, no. 100).
