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Edinburgh, 55 High Street, Trunk's Close, General

General View

Site Name Edinburgh, 55 High Street, Trunk's Close, General

Classification General View

Alternative Name(s) Well Head

Canmore ID 115293

Site Number NT27SE 1114

NGR NT 26074 73734

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/115293

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Edinburgh, City Of
  • Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District City Of Edinburgh
  • Former County Midlothian

Architecture Notes

Trunks Close is listed on Edgar 1742. The name seems to be a corruption of Turing's Close, from John Turing, burgess, mentioned in RMS (Register of the Great Seal of Scotland Vols I-XI) 1478 as having property here, which was inherited by his son James before 1488. A John Turing, probably the same man, was bailie in 1467. A later name, Andrew Bryson's Close, derived from Andrew Bryson, merchant burgess, mentioned in RMS 1647 along with his son Alexander, and known to have rebuilt a tenement in the close. He was prominent in the town council in the 1650s, but must have been resident in the close for some time before this, since the close name occurs in Town Council Minutes 1650. The close also had names from two of the four previous owners of Bryson's tenements: Purvis's Close for the first of them, John Purvis, perhaps the merchant of that name elected burgess in 1592, or else the John Purves, wright, who was treasurer of the town in 1528 and dean of guild in 1539; and Stirling's Close for the third owner, William Stirling, of whom nothing more is known. (from Stuart Harris, "Place Names of Edinburgh", 1996, pages 610-1)

Activities

Project (1997)

The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012.

The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network.

Field Visit (20 December 2000)

A large cockerel stands in lush groundcover, his head tilted slightly up and his beak open as if he is crowing. A pair of reading glasses perch on his beak. Above his head the enlarged, slightly concave, comma of his comb sweeps back. The plumage is indicated on the openwork metal body by long narrow curving planes, becoming almost solid at the neck and head. The two textured curves which form the breast are joined together by a strip forged into diamond shapes, reminiscent of a harlequin's costume.

The sculpture was inspired by a hen on a billboard on the London underground, but came to be seen by the makers as a portrait of Phil Johnson, head of the company. The title was added later: 'a cockalorum is a self-important little man.' (1)

Turnbull Jeffrey Partnership are landscape architects who designed the garden and chose The Cockalorum from an exhibition of ironwork in the garden.

Inscriptions : None Visible

Signatures : None Visible

Design period : 1992

Year of unveiling : 1992

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0309)

References

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