History of Geology Tour

 
Site of the Edinburgh Theatre Royal. 1. Site of the Edinburgh Theatre Royal

The site of the old Edinburgh Theatre Royal was close to where the Balmoral Hotel now stands. Read more…

Memorial to John Playfair, Calton Hill.  2. John Playfair memorial

Mathematician, physicist and geologist, John Playfair is perhaps best known as James Hutton’s most influential disciple. Read more…

Robert Jameson's house  3. Robert Jameson’s house

Robert Jameson was Edinburgh’s professor of natural history from 1804 to 1854. Read more…

SIr James Hall's house  4. Sir James Hall’s house

Sir James Hall was a important champion of the theories of James Hutton. Read more…

Archibald Geikie's house 5. Archibald Geikie’s house

Collaborating with Roderick Murchison, Archibald Geikie produced the first geological map of Scotland in 1862 while working for the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Read more… 

Offices of the Witness newspaper. 6. Site of the offices of the Witness

Hugh Miller was one of the most remarkable figures in 19th-century Scotland. Read more…

Robertson's Tavern. 7. Site of Robertson’s Tavern, Milne’s Close

Alexander Rose was a wood and ivory turner and keen amateur geologist. Read more…

John Walker's grave.  8. Grave of John Walker

John Walker was the University of Edinburgh’s second professor of natural history from 1779 to 1803, but the first to take his teaching responsibilities seriously. Read more…

Hutton's section  9. Hutton’s Section, Salisbury Crags

During Charles Darwin’s time as a medical student in Edinburgh in 1825-7 he accompanied the professor of natural history, Robert Jameson, on one of his natural history class field trips to Salisbury Crags. Read more…

The James Hutton Memorial Garden 10. James Hutton Memorial Garden

Hidden away just off the Pleasance is the Hutton Memorial Garden, on the site of the house where James Hutton lived till his death in 1797. Read More…

Giant Irish Elk skeleton.  11. Giant Irish Elk, National Museum of Scotland

The magnificent skeleton of this extinct beast was added to the collection of Edinburgh University’s natural history museum in 1821 by Robert Jameson. Read more…

Comemorative pillar, the Meadows. 12. Commemorative pillars, the Meadows

These two commemorative pillars were erected in 1886 by the Master Builder and Operative Masons of Edinburgh for the International Exhibition of that year. Read more…

Mr Wood's Fossils  13. Mr Wood’s Fossils

This shop was established in 1987 by the professional fossil hunter Stanley Wood, who, although he never held an academic post, made some important palaeontological discoveries. Read more…

 James Geikie's house. 14. James Geikie’s house

James Geikie was professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh from 1882 to 1914, succeeding his brother Archibald Geikie in the chair. Read more…