I recently came across the astonishing ‘MEMORABILIA‘ of Rev John Sime [1790-1864].
Rev Sime was born in Edinburgh. From his early years he seems to have been fascinated by the world round about him and recorded all that he could of this in his sketch book. His particular interest was in architecture. As a young man he drew a plan of St Giles cathedral based upon all of his own measurements.
Rev Sime has been lost to history. In a future post, I will share what I can of his life and work. For the last three decades of his life Rev Sime was Chaplain for the Trinity College Kirk:
Trinity College was in the very heart of Edinburgh, as this late 18th century town map reveals:
Trinity College was immediate neighbour of: Edinburgh’s Old Physic Garden, Lady Glenorchy’s Chapel, Shakespeare’s Theatre and Edinburgh’s Orphan Hospital. Rev Sime carefully sketched all of these long gone places [Waverley replaced them].
A few years ago I made this short film about Edinburgh’s Orphan Hospital: [to play, click here on the image below]:
I am getting old now. In living my life, it has become abundantly clear to me that architecture has its own life span. Occasionally a building will survive, only to be orphaned. Then a new development comes along . . . Waverley