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.
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.
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.
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.
The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –
Article and photographs are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.
