Sir Walter Scott with His Favourite Dog Maida (Explored 30: 29 Oct 2025)

Statue of the writer Sir Walter Scott and his deerhound Maida, sculpted from Carrara marble by Sir John Steell and set on a platform of huge stone steps at the base of the Scott Monument, Princes Street, Edinburgh.

 

The Scott Monument is considered the largest memorial to a writer in the world, it was designed by George Meikle Kemp (1795 - 1844). Kemp was a surprising choice, for he was not an architect but a carpenter. Yet his neo-Gothic design beat out competition from established architects and was selected by a panel of judges. Tragically, Kemp drowned in the Union Canal before the Scott Monument was finished. The Monument was begun on 15 August 1840 and officially opened exactly 8 years later. The structure was built just as the new science of photography was being invented, and some of the earliest known photographs ever taken show the Monument being built.

 

For more info, see: www.britainexpress.com/scotland/Lothian/properties/scott-...

Done