Showing posts with label Byres Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Byres Hill. Show all posts

Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Skulferatu #118 - Hopetoun Monument, Byres Hill, Haddington, East Lothian

 

On a lonely hill in East Lothian there stands a rather phallic looking stone tower.  It dominates the skyline for miles around, shouting out to all – ‘Look at me!  Look at me!’  It is meant to remind all who see it of the valour and heroism of a long forgotten member of the aristocracy.  A career soldier who fought in the battles against Napoleon and his ambitions of empire, but who also fought to seize and steal land for the British Empire.   A man, who in his time was seen as being brave, daring, God fearing, and everything that a man of his class should be.  A man, who in our time, is seen as taking part in actions on behalf of the British Empire and his own wealth, that are morally repugnant.

 

A photo showing a tall, thin stone tower rising up from a sea of green gorse bushes and up into a blue sky.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The Hopetoun Monument

 

John Hope, our ‘hero’ memorialised by the Hopetoun Monument, was born in 1765 and was part of the aristocratic Hopetoun family.  He took the title of the Earl of Hopetoun when his half-brother died in 1816.  John joined the army at a young age and quickly rose to the rank of Brigadier-General.  In 1794, he was in the West Indies where he took part in various campaigns, including the brutal crushing of the slave rebellion in Grenada.  He then took part in various battles in Europe and Egypt and served under the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Nivelle and the Battle of Nive.  In 1814 he was severely wounded at the Battle of Bayonne and was taken prisoner by the French.  On his release, he returned to Scotland to recuperate.  His military service over, he enjoyed the wealth from the various lands he had inherited around Scotland, and also the wealth generated from the plantations he now owned in Granada and Dominica.  He later went on to be the Governor of the Royal Bank of Scotland, The Lord Lieutenant of Linlithgowshire and the Captain-general of the Royal Company of Archers.  He died while in Paris in 1823, with his body then being repatriated back to Britain and buried in the family vault at Abercorn.

 

At the time of his death, John Hope was a popular man, not only amongst the great and the good of the land, but also amongst the general population.  The tenants and the farmers on his land appeared to have held him in high regard as a good man and a good landlord.  Various discussions into monuments to his life were had, and he ended up with several.  These are, the Hopetoun Monument at Byres Hill, another Hopetoun Monument in Fife, and then a statue of him on horseback that now sits outside Dundas House in the New Town of Edinburgh.

 

Work on the Hopetoun Monument began on the 8th of May 1824, when the foundation stone was laid. On a day of torrential rain, a huge procession took place up Byres Hill, a procession of ‘ladies and gentlemen’ from the surrounding countryside, various craftsmen, and marching bands.  Hordes of local people braved the terrible weather to come and watch the event.  Then, with much pomp, the first stone of the tower was laid down on the site. 

 

Once completed the tower stood ninety-five feet tall, with a hundred and thirty-two steps spiralling up to reach the viewing platform at the top.

 

***

 

On a cold and crisp day, I walked up the dirt path round Byres Hill that led to a steep slope up through some woods of almost naked trees, the forest floor carpeted in their leaves of orange and gold.  I then emerged out of the woods to a ring of gorse bushes that appeared to encircle the tower as if they were protecting it, much like the thorn bushes that grew around Sleeping Beauty’s castle.  Luckily for me though, there was no having to cut my way through, as the path led me out and up to the grassy area where the tower stands.

 

A view through some bare branched trees over to some green fields and hills.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from the woods at Byres Hill

 

A view through a haze of tree branches to a tall stone tower (The Hopetoun Monument).  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The Hopetoun Monument – through the trees

 

A view of a tall stone tower framed by two naked, skeletal trees.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The Hopetoun Monument – through the naked trees

 

A view of a tall stone tower (The Hopetoun Monument) standing on a grassy area of a hill.  Two people are sitting down on the ground against it.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The Hopetoun Monument

 

Walking up to the tower I could see that the iron gate was open and inviting me to come inside.  So, in I went.  A steep and narrow spiral staircase led up and up.  It made me think of another childhood fairy tale and so I cried out ‘Rapunzel, oh Rapunzel, let down your hair.’ Alas, there was no answer, only the eerie howl of the wind through the window slats in the stone. 

 

A view of the doorway into the tower.  There is an opened metal gate and the lattices of it are shadowed on the tower wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The opening to the tower

 

A view of sunlight streaming through an opening in a wall.  A spiral staircase can be seen twisting down by the wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The spiral staircase

 

As I made my way further up I found that on the ledges on these slats there were the abandoned nests of some ravens, who had made the tower their home for a brief time.  From the nests of twigs and sticks and downy feathers, they must have had a good view of the land below.  By the nests the stairs became thick with fallen sticks that crunched under my feet like the dried bones of some long dead tiny creatures.  Climbing further up, the tower grew darker and darker.  My hands against the walls I trod carefully, the crunch, crunch of my feet becoming louder as the light grew fainter and fainter.  The dark and the screaming howl of the wind made me feel slightly nervous about what was ahead, and I thought about turning around and going back down.  But, just as my fear was getting the better of me, there was light.  Another window slat and then as I walked up I could see the entrance out onto the tower viewing platform.  Pulling myself up on a slightly wobbly iron handrail, I was out into the bright light of a view that stretched for miles and miles.  I could see over the whole of East Lothian, down to the Borders, across to sea to Fife and over to Edinburgh and beyond.

 

A view over the land from the Hopetoun Monument showing fields stretching off into the distance.  The silhouette of the monument and the hill on which it sits can be seen on the land below.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Silhouette of Byres Hill and the tower

 

A view from the monument over green fields to a small but steep hill, Berwick Law and in the distance the dark rock of the Bass Rock.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View over to North Berwick, Berwick Law, and the Bass Rock

 

A view over fields and a curving coastline to a hill - Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View over to Edinburgh

 

I took in the view, despite the howling wind that wanted to pluck me from the tower and throw me far, far away.  Then, finding a small hole in the tower wall, I placed a Skulferatu there before making my way back down the narrow, winding stairs and out onto the hill.

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 118) being held up with the view from Hopetoun Monument in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #118


A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 118) nestling in the crack in a stone wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #118 in a hole in the tower wall

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 118) nestling in the crack in a stone wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #118 in a hole in the tower wall

 

Google Map showing the location of Skulferatu #118
Map showing the location of Skulferatu #118

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.978075

Longitude -2.801577

 

what3words: squad.dusts.thrusters

 

I used the following sources for information on Hopetoun Monument and John Hope –

 

‘The Late Earl of Hopetoun’ - The Scots Magazine - Wednesday 1 October 1823
 
‘Earl of Hopetoun’s Funeral’ - Morning Advertiser - Thursday 9 October 1823
 
‘Scottish Intelligence’ - The Scotsman - Saturday 8 May 1824
 
The Scotsman – 28 June 2020
 
Canmore
 
Wikipedia