Thursday 21st October 1819
Thursday 21st Oct In the morning we walked up Calton Hill to see the Camera Obscura which is well worth seeing in the evening attended the ball the room is very large and the company genteel
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Camera Obscura: In the early 18th century, the Edinburgh instrument maker Thomas Short leased some land on Calton Hill to display his instruments to the public. As his lease stipulated female relatives of Thomas could not inherit the building and its contents, his wife and children did not inherit it when he died in 1788.
An email from Andrew Johnson, General Manager of today's Camera Obscura: Here is a picture of the partially finished building that our founder’s father commenced on Calton Hill. The new observatory, its replacement, opened in 1818. I think that around 1818 there was a camera obscura also in the Nelson monument, though it may have been in the observatory.
In 1827, Maria Theresa Short returned to Edinburgh from the West Indies claiming to be Thomas Short’s daughter and attempted to claim his "Great Telescope" for her inheritance. Despite strong competition from other parties, she received the telescope and set up "Short's Popular Observatory" in 1835, housed in a wooden and stone building next to the National Monument on Calton Hill.
Andrew adds to his email: Here is a picture of the telescope that was in Thomas Short’s observatory on Calton Hill, perhaps seen by Lucy
Contemporary technical description of Maria Short’s telescope, also from Andrew
She exhibited many scientific instruments and kept her Observatory open till 9pm each evening. The daguerrotype of 1840, also provided by Andrew Johnson, General Manager of today's Camera Obscura, shows the hill at the time Maria Short was operating the camera obscura and exhibiting the telescope and scientific instruments
After this very popular observatory was pulled down by authorities against her protests in 1851, she moved to Castlehill and created Short's Observatory, Museum of Science and Art, the main attraction being the camera obscura.
2013: Outlook Tower, Castlehill, Edinburgh by Kim Traynor, the copyright holder of this work, and published under the (CC BY-SA 0.3) Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Outlook_Tower,_Castlehill,_Edinburgh.JPG
In 1892, Patrick Geddes, a pioneering Scottish urban planner, sociologist, and ecologist, assumed management of the site, renamed it the "Outlook Tower," and organized it as a museum and urban study centre demonstrating his philosophy of planning, which was based on comprehensive surveys of the site, city, and region. He installed a series of exhibits on progressively broader geographic themes as one ascended the tower — first the world on the ground floor, then Europe, the English-speaking countries, Scotland, and Edinburgh — with the camera obscura itself continuing to project a real-time image of the city at the very top. People from all walks of life were invited to come to the tower to study and learn about their city. The museum closed after Geddes' death in 1932. It was purchased by the University of Edinburgh in 1966 as the home for a proposed Patrick Geddes Centre and archive, but the project was greatly scaled back and in 1982 the building was sold to a private owner, though a one-room Geddes exhibit remained on the fourth floor. The tower is now known as the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions and, with its six floors of interactive exhibitions, is still open to the public, making it the oldest purpose-built attraction in the city, and one of the oldest in the United Kingdom. Nowadays there are passing references to Maria Short and Patrick Geddes in the presentation on the top floor where the Camera Obscura is still in use to project a "virtual" tour of the city for visitors, and also on the rooftop terrace with its views of Edinburgh and telescopes.
Above, today’s camera obscura at the top of the outlook tower. Below, Edinburgh scenes from the tower
The floors beneath the Camera Obscura hold the "World of Illusions", which offers interactive exhibits demonstrating aspects of optical illusions, light, colour. There are also puzzles, a mirror maze, and a vortex tunnel. Although the project is primarily a tourist attraction, it also serves as a learning centre about optical illusions, holograms, the origins of photography and about Edinburgh itself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_Obscura_(Edinburgh)
Below, a hologram of Andrew Johnson, General Manager of today's Camera Obscura, extracted from a staff hologram of 1991 - Andrew very kindly welcomed us and sent us information and images from the Calton Hill days https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/
Hologram of Andrew Johnson, General Manager of today's Camera Obscura, extracted from a staff hologram of 1991 - Andrew very kindly welcomed us and sent us information and images from the Calton Hill days https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/
The day after our blog on the Camera Obscura we read the BBC’s report: “Breast cancer detected by thermal imaging scan in Edinburgh” - “A tourist has told of her ‘life-changing’ visit to the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh after one of its thermal cameras detected she had breast cancer…… she discovered that thermal imaging cameras can be used as a tool by oncologists” . On returning home to Berkshire her doctor confirmed the diagnosis and she was immediately referred for appropriate care. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50139540
The Assembly Rooms, where balls were held, is at the centre of George Street, in the centre of the recently established New Town. It was opened on 11 January 1787 for the Caledonian Hunt Ball and was funded by public subscription. John Henderson was selected as architect having won a competition in 1781 for the design of the new Assembly Rooms.
1829: Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh from page 111 of Modern Athens, displayed in a series of views; or, Edinburgh in the nineteenth century; exhibiting the whole of the new buildings, modern improvements, antiquities, & picturesque scenery of the Scottish metropolis & its environs, by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. Original held and digitised by the British Library (Accession number HMNTS 010370.dd.10.) This work is in the public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MA(1829)_p.111_-_Assembly_Rooms,_George_Street,_Edinburgh_-_Thomas_Hosmer_Shepherd.jpg
The original design went through three revisions before construction eventually began in 1783 but Henderson died on 16 February 1786, before the building was completed. The building was extended several times during the nineteenth century and in 1818 the grand portico was added by architect William Burn. In August 1822, a Peers Ball was held in the Assembly Rooms on the occasion of a visit by King George IV to Edinburgh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_Rooms_(Edinburgh)
_p.111_-_Assembly_Rooms,_George_Street,_Edinburgh_-_Thomas_Hosmer_Shepherd.jpg){kind=link}
The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh . Each year part of George Street is given over to the Festival Fringe with temporary cafes and stages on the street with only limited access for traffic. The Assembly Rooms are a perennial Fringe venue. © Copyright Jim Barton and licensed for reuse the (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons Licence. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5090191
Each year part of George Street is given over to the Festival Fringe with temporary cafes and stages on the street with only limited access for traffic. The Assembly Rooms, above, are a perennial Fringe venue. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5090191
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?