Kirkhill Astronomical Pillar (original) (raw)

The Kirkhill Astronomical Pillar was constructed in 1776 by David Stewart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan and erected in the grounds of his estate at Kirkhill House, near Broxburn, Scotland. The pillar fell into disrepair and eventually collapsed in the 1970's but fortunately the stones were preserved and the pillar was reconstructed (1988) in Almondell Country Park on land once owned by the Erskine family. The pillar records the details of an adjacent scale model of the Solar System constructed by Erskine following the measurements of the size of the Solar System deduced from the observations of the Transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769. The model, centred on a Sun of stone six feet in diameter with planets at distances and sizes to scale, has long since disappeared, only the pillar remains.