Skulferatu #3 - Eagle Rock, South Queensferry

 

My Covid reading for the last few weeks has been ‘I, Claudius’ and ‘Claudius the God’ by Robert Graves.  So, immersed in stories of ancient Rome and the Emperor who conquered a large part of Britain, I thought I’d take a walk out to Eagle Rock.  As a child, one of my friend’s and I had often played on the beach, in the area of the rock.  The Historic Scotland plaque pointing out the eagle was not in place at the time and we hadn’t really noticed or paid any attention to the carving on the rock.  Then one day my friend’s dad pointed out the eagle and told us it dated from the time of the Romans.  The rock then sort of took on a magical significance, imbued with all that ancient history, and we would often imagine ourselves as Roman legionnaires in a foreign and hostile land.

Eagle Rock

 

The eagle on Eagle Rock is a very worn carving, which is thought to date from around AD 140 to the early AD 200s.  At this time, the Romans occupied nearby Cramond and had a fort there.  It is unclear whether the eagle was a piece of Roman graffiti art or if it had any religious significance.

The worn carving of the eagle and Historic Scotland Plaque

 

To get to the rock I walked through Cramond and then over the old bridge which took me on to the road to Lord Rosebery’s estate.  On the estate there is a well-worn path that follows the coast around to South Queensferry.  Despite it being a warm day with the sun out, the path was a muddy sludge from the recent rain.  So, slipping and sliding I made my way down to the short stretch of beach by Eagle Rock.  Overhead a single plane flew, its wheels down and engine roaring as it came into land at nearby Edinburgh Airport.  A reminder of the time before Covid when planes would be roaring overhead every few minutes as they came into land or were taking off.  

View of Eagle Rock looking over the Forth to Fife

 

On the beach the tide was out and some kids played while their parents laid out a picnic on a battered looking old rug.  They waved hello as I walked past them and along to Eagle Rock.  There, I walked around and took a few photos before looking for a suitable place to leave the Skulferatu.  There was a nice, pocked ledge below the eagle, so I left it there and walked off to rejoin the path and make my way home.

Skulferatu #3

 

Skulferatu #3 in situ

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are – 

Latitude 55.982954 

Longitude -3.308492  

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu

Article and photographs are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.

The Skulferatu Project

I often go walking, either in my locality or on trips and travels around the UK.  On my walks I like to explore the places I am passing through and will often end up on paths with no idea of where I’m going or what I’m going to find.  Mostly I find dead ends or industrial estates, but sometimes I find real gems of places.  These places need not be beautiful or even of any historic significance, as I have often found inspiration in the decay of old industry, in the brittle stone of crumbling graveyards or the low hum and concrete landscape of a nuclear power station.  However, sometimes it is good just to lose yourself in the beauty of nature - on a beach, on a cliff walk, in a woodland, on a moor or up in the hills and mountains.

 

During the time of the Covid 19 pandemic, I got to thinking about the places I have walked around and the places I have visited.  Many times, I have picked up a pebble or a shell or something else as a memento of that place, as many others do.  What do I leave of myself in this landscape though?  Nothing other than the passing shadow of my having been there.  But how often is what we leave behind us the toxic trash of the brief time we enjoyed in that place?  The plastic water bottle, the crisp packets, the sandwich wrappers, the juice cans, etc.  The detritus we are all use to seeing on our beaches and in our beauty spots.  I wondered if there was a way I could leave behind a little of myself, something I had made, something neutral that would become part of that landscape, decay back into it, or even become a memento for someone else who had visited that spot.  I then came up with the idea of leaving behind something made of clay.  Something small and unobtrusive.

 

I was pondering on what I could make, especially given my limited skills, while I was out for a walk along the coast.  My route took me past an old church and there I wandered through the graveyard.  Many of the graves dated from the sixteenth century.  As I wandered around, I noticed that several had very primitive carvings of skulls on them that were really nothing more than an oval head, two round holes for eyes, a triangle for a nose and a line for the mouth.  Even I could make something that basic.  Thus, the idea for the Skulferatus was born.

Skulls decorating gravestones at Cramond Kirk and Melrose Abbey

The Skulferatus are all made of clay using a few simple implements to create the eye sockets, nose and mouth.  I experimented with a few looks and found the one pictured below worked the best. 

Skulferatu design

Batch 1 of Skulferatus left to dry

 

Once made the Skulferatus were left to dry before being fired in a kiln at 1200℃.  This hardens the clay and means they are now basically stone.

To be fired the Skulferatus were placed, rather aptly, inside a head by Ronnie Fulton.

 

A Skulferatu after being fired in the kiln.

 

Now that the Skulferatus have been created I will be occasionally leaving them at places I visit.  When I do this, I will take a photograph of the area, a photograph of the Skulferatu and a screenshot from Google Maps, showing the location it was left.  These photographs, along with the GPS coordinates will be posted on this blog and also on Instagram.

 

Thanks to Esther Cohen and Ronnie Fulton from Tantallon Arts and Crafts Studios https://tantallonstudios.com for providing support in creating the Skulferatu pieces.

All articles and photographs on this blog are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.