Nelson's Monument

(Part of the geometric series -Sphere and hemisphere)

The little round black ball on top of the tower is a time ball, here raised and ready to be dropped a couple of minutes later at one o'clock. The tower is in the form of an upturned telescope commemorating Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar and his death. A time ball was added in 1853 as a signal to ships at Leith or on the Forth so that they could accurately set their chronometers at 1 o'clock. In the case of fog the One o'Clock Gun was set up at Edinburgh Castle in 1861 to provide an audible signal.

In the background is the hemisphere shaped City Dome which was part of the old City or Calton Hill Observatory but that particular dome was never used for astronomical purposes because a new observatory was built at Blackford Hill. Also only just visible beyond the trees is another of the old domes.