Hilltop Monuments
@totheobelisk.bsky.social
Occasional posts by @addingtonnick@bsky.social recording visits to #hilltopmonuments and other curiosities in high, remote or unexpected places, mostly in Scotland. Formerly on the other place @totheobelisk.
Nevertheless, the park is a distinctive and attractive greenspace and well worth seeking out.
October 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Nevertheless, the park is a distinctive and attractive greenspace and well worth seeking out.
It's a robust bit of creative landscaping and still in pretty good shape but the absence of its animating waterfalls lends the site a somewhat forgotten feel - amplified by the faded mural on an adjacent gable end.
October 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
It's a robust bit of creative landscaping and still in pretty good shape but the absence of its animating waterfalls lends the site a somewhat forgotten feel - amplified by the faded mural on an adjacent gable end.
... though the segmented pyramid has a Mesoamerican look to it. A spiral stair leads to a viewing platform.
October 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
... though the segmented pyramid has a Mesoamerican look to it. A spiral stair leads to a viewing platform.
Lighting completed the effect - it's perhap these paper lantern-like lamps that led to the park being known locally - so I've heard - as 'the Chinese Gardens'...
October 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Lighting completed the effect - it's perhap these paper lantern-like lamps that led to the park being known locally - so I've heard - as 'the Chinese Gardens'...
The landscape artwork, titled Waterworks, was designed by German artist Dieter Magnus as a legacy of Glasgow's year as European City of Culture in 1990. Opening in 1991, water once cascaded from the pyramid over a series of rocky channels and terraces below.
October 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
The landscape artwork, titled Waterworks, was designed by German artist Dieter Magnus as a legacy of Glasgow's year as European City of Culture in 1990. Opening in 1991, water once cascaded from the pyramid over a series of rocky channels and terraces below.
The roof is not entirely gone yet and some wood panelling remains around the lancet windows on the first floor.
September 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The roof is not entirely gone yet and some wood panelling remains around the lancet windows on the first floor.
...while its front overlooks a largely inaccessible field.
September 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
...while its front overlooks a largely inaccessible field.
At the time, it was likely to have been visible from the nearby road, but today, it's almost completely obscured by the woodland along the little brook running between them...
September 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
At the time, it was likely to have been visible from the nearby road, but today, it's almost completely obscured by the woodland along the little brook running between them...
Receding into a band of woodland at the edge of a field near Kirknewton, West Lothian, the folly was apparently erected by one William Pagan sometime after the famous battle in 1815.
September 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Receding into a band of woodland at the edge of a field near Kirknewton, West Lothian, the folly was apparently erected by one William Pagan sometime after the famous battle in 1815.
It’s also possible Nelson’s monument would have been visible from here at the time, though the current tree cover on the high ground between them obscures it now. (At least, I couldn't spot either monument from the other's location, no matter how hard I squinted!)
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
It’s also possible Nelson’s monument would have been visible from here at the time, though the current tree cover on the high ground between them obscures it now. (At least, I couldn't spot either monument from the other's location, no matter how hard I squinted!)
The view from the cross would have been impressive when it was put up but is now largely obscured by trees and the monument is only visible from the plateau behind.
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The view from the cross would have been impressive when it was put up but is now largely obscured by trees and the monument is only visible from the plateau behind.
An inscription on the arms of the cross carries the dedication to Wellington and records that it was erected by Wrench. The pedestal is also inscribed with what appear to be the dates of one D.L.H. though it’s hard to read – and these look like a later addition.
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
An inscription on the arms of the cross carries the dedication to Wellington and records that it was erected by Wrench. The pedestal is also inscribed with what appear to be the dates of one D.L.H. though it’s hard to read – and these look like a later addition.
The monument was erected at the behest of the local doctor, one E M Wrench, who’d been an army surgeon in the Crimea and during the Indian Mutiny, and who felt that Wellington’s military achievements merited a memorial in line with that of Admiral Nelson nearby.
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The monument was erected at the behest of the local doctor, one E M Wrench, who’d been an army surgeon in the Crimea and during the Indian Mutiny, and who felt that Wellington’s military achievements merited a memorial in line with that of Admiral Nelson nearby.
The second monument was erected in 1866 in a similarly precipitous location on nearby Blackstone Edge. The stone cross commemorates Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who had died in 1852.
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The second monument was erected in 1866 in a similarly precipitous location on nearby Blackstone Edge. The stone cross commemorates Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who had died in 1852.
On the plateau just behind sit a distinctive trio of rock formations, each inscribed with names of ships from Nelson’s navy: Victory, Defiance and Royal Soverin (sic).
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
On the plateau just behind sit a distinctive trio of rock formations, each inscribed with names of ships from Nelson’s navy: Victory, Defiance and Royal Soverin (sic).
It stands on the edge of the rocky escarpment called Birchen Edge, a spot popular with climbers.
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
It stands on the edge of the rocky escarpment called Birchen Edge, a spot popular with climbers.
The earliest, commemorating Nelson, was erected in 1810, five years after his death at Trafalgar, and takes the unusual form of an obelisk-like tapering column, about 10 feet high – carved from a single piece of the local gritstone – topped with a stone ball.
August 9, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The earliest, commemorating Nelson, was erected in 1810, five years after his death at Trafalgar, and takes the unusual form of an obelisk-like tapering column, about 10 feet high – carved from a single piece of the local gritstone – topped with a stone ball.
Stone inscribed with lines from a 2007 poem by local poet Judi Hill extolling her love of Northumberland. Created by sculptor Luke Batchelor in 2024, the stone sits on Bracken Hill, overlooking the beach at Alnmouth.
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August 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Stone inscribed with lines from a 2007 poem by local poet Judi Hill extolling her love of Northumberland. Created by sculptor Luke Batchelor in 2024, the stone sits on Bracken Hill, overlooking the beach at Alnmouth.
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In the 1860s, there was a plan to re-consecrate Church Hill as a burial ground and a mortuary chapel in Romanesque style was built at its foot, funded by public subscription. The plans appear to have fallen through and today the chapel is a roofless ruin.
August 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
In the 1860s, there was a plan to re-consecrate Church Hill as a burial ground and a mortuary chapel in Romanesque style was built at its foot, funded by public subscription. The plans appear to have fallen through and today the chapel is a roofless ruin.
Who erected the elegant wooden cross and how long it’s been here, I don’t know. But it seems hard to imagine the hill without it.
August 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Who erected the elegant wooden cross and how long it’s been here, I don’t know. But it seems hard to imagine the hill without it.