<< Our Photo Pages >> The Portsburgh Stone - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in Scotland in Midlothian
Submitted by Sunny100 on Wednesday, 28 December 2011 Page Views: 10397
Natural PlacesSite Name: The Portsburgh Stone Alternative Name: The Corstorphine StoneCountry: Scotland County: Midlothian Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Edinburgh Nearest Village: Wester Port
Map Ref: NT25287327
Latitude: 55.946636N Longitude: 3.197979W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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I have visited· I would like to visit
XIII visited on 6th May 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5
Anne T visited on 20th Feb 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Portsburgh Stone, Natural Erratic, Edinburgh: Intrigued by the 'no photograph' of this site in the heart of Edinburgh, I determined to find it, although we did mis-interpret the location published in the Portal text and walked in a couple of decreasing circles! The actual grid reference is NT 25283 73276, the West Port Garden (or Geddes Garden).
A notice on the padlocked gate to the garden told us that the garden was only open on Sundays, so I had to stand looking over the iron railings to try and get the best photographs I could of the stone.
Couldn’t spot any other erratics in the adjacent walls. Located the old Salvation Army building, and also walked around the nearby Art School buildings, but didn’t see anything. The Vennel, with its many steps, was very interesting to walk up.
Pallando have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 3 Access: 5
The Portsburgh Stone is located in a public garden just off West Port half a mile south of Edinburgh Castle. The tree-covered garden is at the northern side of The Edinburgh College Of Art and just west of the famous Vennel in the Old Town (close to the Grassmarket).
The large round-shaped boulder is thought to be a glacial erratic from the last Ice-Age. Originally it was located at Portsburgh outside the city walls but, this boulder and two smaller ones were built into the walls of the Salvation Army Hostel (now part of the Edinburgh College of Art) at the eastern side of the public garden. In 1905 during a clearance of the immediate area the boulder was placed inside the garden. However, one of the smaller boulders remains in the college wall, and the third one is said to be close by.
Historians have speculated as to what the strange boulder is. The general consensus being that when the ice flow moved eastwards it carried the boulder depositing it to the west of the city at Corstorphine. The boulder is similar to stone found at the Maybury Quarry in Corstophine. Then in more recent times it was taken to Portsburgh just outside of the city walls and, eventually brought into the city to be hidden in the walls of the Salvation Army Hostel. One other account claims the stone to be a meteorite !
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.