Bird's Eye View

Up the steeple of the Tron Kirk in the centre of the city

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I got to the top of the ladder. It was almost completely dark now and I had to peer into the dusty recess that I could feel in front of me, as well as feeling a tell-tale cold draught in my face. I pulled the small door open and when the sudden blast of light blinded me I gripped the rung tighter to steady myself with my free hand. As my eyes adjusted and I could see outside my heart rose, then sank. I’d made it to this wee door after years of wishing I could, but I now realised that the doorway was just too small to fit me through. Damn and blast were not my chosen words but I’ll save your blushes by not repeating what I did say.

This was the only view I could take that day in 2021 by attaching a tiny 360 degree camera to a lightweight pole and poking it through the doorway.

The Tron Kirk sits at the very heart of the city and is a landmark spire on the Edinburgh Old Town skyline. I’ve taken thousands of photos of it from near and from afar, often with the sun or moon close beside or behind it. Here you can see the Scott Monument looking like it’s a very close neighbour, but is in fact nearly half a mile away on Princes St.

The Tron spire is a relative newcomer, as the original steeple collapsed on 16th November 1824 during the Great Fire of Edinburgh.

200 years (and 11 days) after that fire, I found myself standing outside the wee door that I’d been stuck inside 3 years before. That was a great feeling - I got there in the end.

The sticky up bits were very familiar from gazing at them through a long lens and these ones with the balls on top were the reason for the scaffolding and the emergency repair work. They are all now firmly repinned to their pedestals and safe for another 200 years or so.

It tickles me that I have these 2 different but similar views of these big baws. (That IS the moon btw)

The dome in the background is Old College with the statue known as Golden Boy perched on top in the scud.*

But you’ve come here for the views so I’ll serve you up a few from the scaffolding in different directions. This one looks south west over Heriot’s school, past the triple chimney at Lauriston Place then Barclay Viewforth Kirk on the Links and over Bruntsfield and Craighouse out to Torphin in the Pentlands. I am a sucker for zooming into shots like these and looking at the detail of what goes where. Those in the know will spot old Boroughmuir High School, Napier University in Colinton, and the wee dam at Clubbiedeans where we often walk up for the reward at the brilliant wee cafe up there - check it out from April folks. Get a number 16 bus and walk over the old golf course and up beside the reservoirs…lots of different wee trails home too with great views of the city. This is the link for the cafe - Clubbiedeans

Looking back into town from Clubbiedeans - the Tron is the leftmost of the 3 spires immediately below the sun in this shot taken the exact opposite direction.

Looking up the Royal Mile - with the exception of the hotel currently under that wrap it would have been a very similar view 200 years ago - with a lot less smoke now though.

Calton Hill and St Andrew’s House, with the Governor’s House on the left - the sole remnant of the old Calton Prison. The annoying bit on the left is the top of the lift shaft in the Carlton Hotel. I couldn’t get any further right to cut it out of this shot without falling off the scaffolding.

South Bridge looking south with Arthur’s Seat over the top of the Scandic Crown Hotel and Edinburgh University’s New College with the dome upper right.

Looking straight down into Hunter Square with long winter shadows.

The wide view looking west up the Royal Mile

The view down onto South Bridge on the left, which stays level & Blair St on the right which follows the slope of the terrain and drops down to the Cowgate.

The view of the Royal Mile from the scaffolding - Cockburn St to the upper left and North Bridge upper right.

Let’s go back inside for a wee minute.

This is the view from the bell chamber to the floor above where there is the ladder that takes you to the wee door at the top - which is too wee for those of “athletic” build to climb through.

The clock mechanism which still runs today. I once stood in the bell chamber and tried to video the bell chiming the hour confident I could hand hold the camera as the moment approached - no matter how prepared you are, the DONG of that bell from 1ft away makes your steely grip wobble, which then makes you laugh, ruining the sound too - utter fail.

The clock mechanism sends out a spinny rod thing (help me please clocky people) in 4 directions to serve each clock face. This used to be the clock that Edinburgh folk would gather underneath at Hogmanay to celebrate “The Bells” at midnight on 31st December.

This view is from the roof of the building opposite - Royal Mile Mansions.

This was the kirk back in 2021 with an Edinburgh World Heritage exhibition and some retail space. The kirk is currently run by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and is home to several local artists and craftspeople selling their wares - well worth stopping by. This view shows the bottom of the steeple which has the main entranceway pass underneath.

Just to give a complete view I’d like to also take you under the floor to discover what lies beneath.

When Tron Kirk was built in the 1640’s the builders demolished the surrounding old closes but got to a point where they decided it was low enough and just built on top of the truncated buildings. So this wee street, Marlin’s“Close” or “Wynd” remains with its cobblestones and even doorways and fireplaces of the old dwellings.

It’s an amazing (though dusty) experience crawling around in these spaces and you can’t help running your fingers over the walls and stones that are there and imagining the thousands of other souls whose hands did the same when they lived and worked here.

I’m not sure what the wiggly worm is - some kind of ducting I think, but the cobbled close crosses that bridgey looking bit and goes up towards the Royal Mile.

One last view of the kirk from street level. I’ll be revisiting many of the shots I took up here for future posts. I also have high resolution 360 degree photos of the whole building from 2021, and it would make a fantastic immersive experience for online use and for VR headsets. It includes 360 images on each of the floors inside the steeple, and several under the floor too. Heritage folk who would like to discuss the possibilities can get hold of me in all the usual ways.

I hope you enjoyed this wee visit to one of Edinburgh’s iconic landmarks and I would love your comments, corrections and input.

A reminder that you can still order (for EH11 collection or mailed out) Winter Greeting Cards and my 2025 Calendar and get them in time for Christmas and Hogmanay.

Maybe see you out there.
TD

“in the scud”: The bare skin, a state of nudity (Scots).

I found this brilliant wee gem by Liz Lochhead while looking for definitions:

Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 31:
If you were barescud-nakit, aye and geared
Up guid and proaper, staunin' hoat for houghmagandie
I could lukk and lukk ett you, and no get randy.