The Scott Monument

I'm sure everybody who has ever been to Edinburgh has seen the Scott Monument, it's pretty hard to miss if you're in the vicinity of Princes Street!

This photo was taken from the top of the mound, just off the Royal Mile on St. Giles Street, looking North over East Princes Street Gardens you can just make out the Forth and Fife in the distance behind it. The little square building and wall in the foreground is in the gardens of what used to be the Bank of Scotland headquarters (it's still used by the Bank of Scotland, and contains the Museum on the Mound which is free and you can view all sorts of displays about money including Scotland's oldest bank note and a million pounds!

I'll let you read about Sir Walter Scott for yourself for whom the monument was erected, but he wrote a few books (which I'm sure many people have never heard of, even though they were very famous in his time). Waverley station is named after one of them. He is also credited with finding the long-lost Crown Jewels ("Honours of Scotland"), now on display at Edinburgh Castle. He is also credited with "re-introducing" tartan to Scotland after it was outlawed during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745, some would say he is actually responsible for what is regarded today as "traditional highland dress".