Edinburgh, Lawnmarket, James' Court, General
General View
Site Name Edinburgh, Lawnmarket, James' Court, General
Classification General View
Alternative Name(s) James Court
Canmore ID 259655
Site Number NT27SE 5845
NGR NT 2552 7359
NGR Description Centred NT 2552 7359
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/259655
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT27SE 5845 centred 2552 7359
Project (1997)
The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012.
The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network.
Field Visit (21 August 2002)
Small parrot/parakeet (?) suspends itself upside down from the handle of a trug; the bird grips the basket's handle with its claws and lays its beak on top. The square stone plinth below has incised dates and leaves around the edges. The stepped base has an incised inscription around the edge of the upper level and a bronze leaf lies on top of each level in the corners.
Zannah Stephen loved the closes off the Royal Mile. The site in James Court was appropriate for two reasons: as a landscape architect, she knew that Patrick Geddes, a great town planner and creator of garden spaces, had lived there; the court is overlooked by the room in the Free Church of Scotland building (to the north) containing an etched portrait of her ancestor Alexander Moncrieff of Culfargie, one of the four brethren of the first major secession in the Church of Scotland in 1733. The room also contains the carved wooden chair in which Moncrieff prayed through the night before the signing of the historical document.
Inspected By : D. King
Inscriptions : 1.) Front of stone plinth (incised numbers): 1960-1997
2.) There is an incised leaf on each side of the plinth (a different one on each side).
3.) Incised letters around top edge of stepped base: SUSANNAH ALICE STEPHEN / KEEP YOUR FACE TOWARDS THE SUN / & THE SHADOWS WILL FALL / BEHIND YOU . IN MEMORY OF
Signatures : None
Design period : 2000
Unveiling details : September 2000
Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN1310)