Inside the Wallace Monument

Rampant Scotland lists June 25, 1887 as the date on which the Wallace Monument was unveiled in Stirling.  John Rochead served as architect for the monument, and David Stevenson sculpted the statue of Wallace.  Stevenson at one point worked with Sir John Steell who sculpted the statue of Sir Walter Scott in Edinburgh's  Walter Scott Monument.  One of Stevenson's works is in the Scott Monument as well; the statue of James VI. The Wallace Monument houses a bust of Sir Walter Scott, and several others, along with the statue of Wallace.  The Scott work was also sculpted by Stevenson, and was placed in the hall in 1884.

Replacing Maida

'April 1.—Ex uno die disce omnes. Rose at seven or sooner, studied, and wrote till breakfast with Anne, about a quarter before ten. Lady Scott seldom able to rise till twelve or one. Then I write or study again till one. At that hour to-day I drove to Huntly Burn, and walked home by one of the hundred and one pleasing paths which I have made through the woods I have planted—now chatting with Tom Purdie, who carries my plaid, and speaks when he pleases, telling long stories of hits and misses in shooting twenty years back—sometimes chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy—and sometimes attending to the humours of two curious little terriers of the Dandie Dinmont breed, together with a noble wolf-hound puppy which Glengarry has given me to replace Maida...'

From Scott's Journal; April 1, 1826.  Losing a pet is losing a member of the family for many of us.  Maida the deerhound was named after the Battle of Maida which occurred during the Napoleonic Wars.  Maida remains aside Sir Walter Scott in the statue that John Steell sculpted for Scott's Monument.

Kemp's Monument to Scott

George Meikle Kemp might have been a shepherd had it not been for a trip to Roslin Castle and Roslin Chapel.  Here he was inspired to architecture.  Kemp developed his interest, travelling throughout Britain for work, and to study gothic architecture.  Ultimately he found work at Melrose Abbey. 

In the spring of 1833, after Sir Walter Scott had died (the previous September, Kemp entered a contest to build a monument to Scott.  Against the odds, Kemp emerged the winner, and built the monument situated in Edinburgh today (John Steell sculpted the statue of Scott from carrara marble; later a cast bronze statue in New York's Central Park).  Kemp unfortunately died before the completion of his memorial, falling into a canal one foggy night - March 6, 1844.

Central Park's Literary Walk

On November 2nd, 1872, a statue of Sir Walter Scott was unveiled in New York City's Central Park. The statue was created by Sir John Steell. Steell's statue depicts Scott sitting on a rock, holding pen and book, with his faithful dog Maida by his side.

The statue was the brainchild of a group of Scottish citizens, who enlisted the Aberdeen-born sculptor. Steell had earlier crafted the statue of Scott in the Scott Memorial on Princes Street in Edinburgh. The Scottish version was made from white Carrara marble. The statue in Central Park is cast bronze (photo mine).