The search for more remnants from the old Scottish Parliament Hall continues at Arniston House. That's the mansion south of Edinburgh where Lord Dundas, the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, took some masonry during the 1824 building work at Parliament Square. We've seen how a collection of pieces from the main doorway and facade was used to construct a garden gate. But if you search the 'pleasure gardens' nearby there are more examples to be found.
The main span of this bridge seems to be another lintel from the two upper windows on the main facade of Parliament Hall. Let's take a closer look at some of the other elements jumbled together here.
It's not immediately possible to identify some of the shaped stones, although it's probably safe to assume that they cam from archways which formed part of the main facade. But one piece of masonry doesn't seem to match...
It may well be part of St Giles, which incidentally may have been replaced (or may have fallen off!) at around the same time. However to the left is a feature which is instantly recognisable from the Elphinstone print (and others based on it such as the version published by Arnot).
Let's remind ourselves of the appearance of the Elphinstone print. John Elphinstone's engraving ‘A Perspective View of the Parliament House & Exchequer, Edinburgh’ from ‘Twelve perspective views of the principal buildings in Edinburgh’ dates from around 1740.
If you look above the main doorway to the jamb, just to the left of the tower, you can see a cone shaped pinnacle to each side of the arms.
It looks very likely that we have tracked down the right hand example of these, which allows us to add more detail to the 3D model than was possible solely from examination of contemporary art works. Next time we'll follow the journey of a significant piece of masonry which accompanied these items on the trip to Arniston House, but which has now headed north again!
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