External Statue at theScottish NationalPortrait Gallery, onthe north-east Tower.

Hutton is depictedwith a hammer in hisright hand and rockspecimen in his left(sculptor DavidWatson Stevenson). On his left is JohnHunter the renownedsurgeon andanatomist. Thebuilding stone is red,wind-blown, desertsandstone of PermianAge (286-248 millionyears old) fromDumfriesshire.

James Hutton's TheoryThe surface of the Earth is constantly being eroded and the

products deposited in the sea. Hutton believed thesediments were then compressed, folded and uplifted,sometimes with volcanic activity, for the cycle of erosion toresume. He also said that earth processes of the past weresimilar to those acting at present (a prevalent idea - Comtede Buffon 1790), and that the slow cycle was capable ofrepeating itself. He put it succinctly: “ the result,therefore, of our present enquiry is that we find no vestigeof a beginning - no prospect of an end.”

James Hutton Memorial Garden.This marks the site of James Hutton's Edinburgh home on StJohn's Hill inthe Pleasanceabove HolyroodRoad.

IntroductionScotland between the years of 1730 and 1790enjoyed a spell of intense intellectual activity knownas the Scottish Enlightenment - a unique period inhistory, one of optimism, improvement anddiscoveries in industry, commerce, agriculture,science and the arts. James Hutton grew up during this period and madea considerable contribution to our understanding ofEarth processes and of the immensity of Time. Hewas a landowner, farmer, agriculturalist, physician,and an outstanding natural philosopher who waselected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Hutton,of course pre-dated photography so the only clueswe have as to his appearance come from paintingand sculpture, not all of which can be consideredlife-like.

Processional frieze in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.Left to right: Sir Henry Raeburn (painter), Lord Jeffrey(judge), Sir Walter Scott (novelist), John Hunter (surgeon),Robert Burns (poet) in striped waistcoat, James Hutton(geologist), Thomas Telford (civil engineer), James Watt(engineer, inventor of steam engine) and others.

View of Salisbury Crags from the Memorial Garden.

A plaque at the entrance from the car park at EdinburghUniversity Centre for Sport and Exercise reads:- Thismemorial garden was constructed in 2001 for the Universityof Edinburgh and marks the site of the house and garden ofJames Hutton (1726 - 1797) at St. John's Hill. The gardencontains a memorial plaque and five boulders (indicated onthe key below) which illustrate two main themes of Hutton'sgeological work.

Hutton used the presence of granite veins in metamorphosedsedimentary schist in Glen Tilt near Blair Atholl to demonstratethat granite is an igneous rock and that it must have beenyounger than rocks it penetrated. The granite veins can beseen in the two boulders from Glen Tilt. The three otherboulders are conglomerate from Barbush near Dunblane andare full of fragments of older rocks, demonstrating thecontinuity and cyclic nature of geological processes.

Memorial garden boulders.The two lower boulders from Glen Tilt came from close to theactual spot investigated by Hutton. They show granite veinspenetrating the country rock. The upper boulder is full offragments of pre-existing rocks from a previous cycle of erosion.

MemorialGardenPlaque

Lothian andBorders RIGS

Group

James Hutton

From the portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn

Founder of Modern Geology (1726 – 1797)

A man aheadof his time

Acknowledgment is due to the following :Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Bt. for permission to reproduce theetching of the Jedburgh unconformity by John Clerk of Eldin, andto the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for permission toreproduce the Raeburn portrait of James Hutton.

The Scottish Borders James Hutton Trail, links locations associatedwith the life and times of James Hutton including sites ofgeological significance. This trail was initiated by the BordersFoundation for Rural Sustainability in partnership with Marshalls’at Slighhouses, the Thomsons’ at Nether Monynut, Lothian andBorders RIGS Group and the British Geological Survey (ScottishOffice). See www.james-hutton.org and www.bfrs.org.

Text by Cliff Porteous and Mike Browne. Designed by Derek Munn

Funding by Scottish Natural Heritage

RIGS are sites chosen for their geoconservational, educational,scientific, aesthetic and historical value to the local community.

RIGS stand for Regionally Important Geological andGeomorphological Sites.

Lothian and Borders RIGS (Labrigs) is a working group of theEdinburgh Geological Society. It consists of amateurs andprofessionals interested in producing information andeducational materials about such sites with the aim ofencouraging a wider appreciation of our Scottish earth heritageat all levels.

Contact your local RIGS group now, at no cost, and you couldbecome involved in useful and interesting projects in the local area.

Our address is:Lothian and Borders RIGS Group,c/o British Geological Survey,Murchison House,West Mains Road,EdinburghEH9 3 LAlabrigs@bgs.ac.ukTel: 0131 667 1000

Map showing localities associated with HuttonMeeting of Burns and Scott by Charles Martin Hardie. In the collection of Abbotsford House

Hutton with friends at Sciennes House, home of Professor AdamFerguson (1787)

Burns Scott Joseph Black James HuttonAdam Ferguson Ferguson jnr Adam Smith

Dugald Stewart John Hume

Antonia Reeve Photography

External Statue at theScottish NationalPortrait Gallery, onthe north-east Tower.

Hutton is depictedwith a hammer in hisright hand and rockspecimen in his left(sculptor DavidWatson Stevenson). On his left is JohnHunter the renownedsurgeon andanatomist. Thebuilding stone is red,wind-blown, desertsandstone of PermianAge (286-248 millionyears old) fromDumfriesshire.

James Hutton's TheoryThe surface of the Earth is constantly being eroded and the

products deposited in the sea. Hutton believed thesediments were then compressed, folded and uplifted,sometimes with volcanic activity, for the cycle of erosion toresume. He also said that earth processes of the past weresimilar to those acting at present (a prevalent idea - Comtede Buffon 1790), and that the slow cycle was capable ofrepeating itself. He put it succinctly: “ the result,therefore, of our present enquiry is that we find no vestigeof a beginning - no prospect of an end.”

James Hutton Memorial Garden.This marks the site of James Hutton's Edinburgh home on StJohn's Hill inthe Pleasanceabove HolyroodRoad.

IntroductionScotland between the years of 1730 and 1790enjoyed a spell of intense intellectual activity knownas the Scottish Enlightenment - a unique period inhistory, one of optimism, improvement anddiscoveries in industry, commerce, agriculture,science and the arts. James Hutton grew up during this period and madea considerable contribution to our understanding ofEarth processes and of the immensity of Time. Hewas a landowner, farmer, agriculturalist, physician,and an outstanding natural philosopher who waselected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Hutton,of course pre-dated photography so the only clueswe have as to his appearance come from paintingand sculpture, not all of which can be consideredlife-like.

Processional frieze in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.Left to right: Sir Henry Raeburn (painter), Lord Jeffrey(judge), Sir Walter Scott (novelist), John Hunter (surgeon),Robert Burns (poet) in striped waistcoat, James Hutton(geologist), Thomas Telford (civil engineer), James Watt(engineer, inventor of steam engine) and others.

View of Salisbury Crags from the Memorial Garden.

A plaque at the entrance from the car park at EdinburghUniversity Centre for Sport and Exercise reads:- Thismemorial garden was constructed in 2001 for the Universityof Edinburgh and marks the site of the house and garden ofJames Hutton (1726 - 1797) at St. John's Hill. The gardencontains a memorial plaque and five boulders (indicated onthe key below) which illustrate two main themes of Hutton'sgeological work.

Hutton used the presence of granite veins in metamorphosedsedimentary schist in Glen Tilt near Blair Atholl to demonstratethat granite is an igneous rock and that it must have beenyounger than rocks it penetrated. The granite veins can beseen in the two boulders from Glen Tilt. The three otherboulders are conglomerate from Barbush near Dunblane andare full of fragments of older rocks, demonstrating thecontinuity and cyclic nature of geological processes.

Memorial garden boulders.The two lower boulders from Glen Tilt came from close to theactual spot investigated by Hutton. They show granite veinspenetrating the country rock. The upper boulder is full offragments of pre-existing rocks from a previous cycle of erosion.

MemorialGardenPlaque

Lothian andBorders RIGS

Group

James Hutton

From the portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn

Founder of Modern Geology (1726 – 1797)

A man aheadof his time

Acknowledgment is due to the following :Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Bt. for permission to reproduce theetching of the Jedburgh unconformity by John Clerk of Eldin, andto the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for permission toreproduce the Raeburn portrait of James Hutton.

The Scottish Borders James Hutton Trail,links locations associatedwith the life and times of James Hutton including sites ofgeological significance. This trail was initiated by the BordersFoundation for Rural Sustainability in partnership with Marshalls’at Slighhouses, the Thomsons’ at Nether Monynut, Lothian andBorders RIGSGroup and the British Geological Survey (ScottishOffice). See www.james-hutton.org and www.bfrs.org.

Text by Cliff Porteous and Mike Browne. Designed by Derek Munn

Funding by Scottish Natural Heritage

RIGS are sites chosen for their geoconservational, educational,scientific, aesthetic and historical value to the local community.

RIGS stand for Regionally Important Geological andGeomorphological Sites.

Lothian and Borders RIGS (Labrigs) is a working group of theEdinburgh Geological Society. It consists of amateurs andprofessionals interested in producing information andeducational materials about such sites with the aim ofencouraging a wider appreciation of our Scottish earth heritageat all levels.

Contact your local RIGS group now, at no cost, and you couldbecome involved in useful and interesting projects in the local area.

Our address is:Lothian and Borders RIGSGroup,c/o British Geological Survey,Murchison House,West Mains Road,EdinburghEH9 3 LAlabrigs@bgs.ac.ukTel: 0131 667 1000

Map showing localities associated with Hutton Meeting of Burns and Scott by Charles Martin Hardie. In the collection of Abbotsford House

Hutton with friends at Sciennes House, home of Professor AdamFerguson (1787)

Burns Scott Joseph Black James HuttonAdam FergusonFerguson jnr Adam Smith

Dugald Stewart John Hume

Antonia Reeve Photography

Hutton's grave in Greyfriars Churchyard Edinburgh.His grave in the Balfour family vault in the section known asthe Covenanters' Prison was unmarked until November 1947when a simple plaque was erected marking the 150thanniversary of Hutton's death.In 1997 a Bicentennary International Conference was held inEdinburgh, a wreath laid, and a eulogy spoken by ProfessorDonald McIntyre whichfinished with these words:-“ Today we have come toknow that living creaturesevolve, that continentsdrift, that stars andgalaxies are born, mature,grow old and die. Wesalute the memory ofJames Hutton, who openedour minds to thesewondrous possibilities.”

Hutton's farmhouse at Slighhouses near Duns,Berwickshire.At the start of the 18th century agriculture was still ratherprimitive in Scotland with heavy wooden ploughs, no hedgesor fences, and a 'runrig' system of scattered strips ofcultivation. Between 1697 and 1703 there were periods offamine in the land, and harvest failures. This farm and thatat Nether Monynut, eight miles away were inherited byHutton. From 1754 to 1767 he chose to live at Slighhouses.He set about enclosing and draining the land. Heintroduced new methods of crop rotation and ploughing,with modern ideas he had seen in practice in Norfolk andFlanders. During this time he never lost his enthusiasm forsolving geological problems.Slighhouses Farm ison Upper Old RedSandstonesedimentary rocks(370my. old) with asuperficial cover ofglacial tilldeposited duringthe last ice ageabout 27000 -13000 years ago.

Hutton's Marl Pit.Hutton used Slighhouses as a living laboratory to investigateagriculture and other natural history phenomena. The marlpit he created is still in evidence, and he wrote of using marl(limey mud) on his fields to improve crop yield. He was notalways successful as some of the marl was not limey.

Jedburgh etching of Inchbonny section 1787John Clerk of Eldin's beautiful engraving is reproduced bykind permission of Sir Robert Clerk of Penicuik

Inchbonny, Jedburgh (photographed in 2001)Here, at the second of his unconformity sites, at Inchbonny,Hutton found nearly vertical sedimentary strata withhorizontal Upper Old Red Sandstone red beds on top. Heconcluded that the vertical beds must have been raised abovethe surface of the ocean , subjected to the levelling effect ofweathering and erosion before sinking below sea level when anew set of sediments mainly sandstones and mudstones weredeposited on top. Hutton was wrong in one detail. At noneof his sites of unconformity are the directly overlying rocks ofmarine origin but they are in fact fluvial.

Dunglass Collegiate Church. (15th century Gothic)This is the resting place of Sir James Hall of Dunglass,geologist and chemist, (1761 - 1832). He admired Hutton,while not accepting the enormous periods of time required forHutton’s Uniformitarian view that geological history is amatter of ordinary forces and unlimited time. In 1798 Sir James Hall investigated the action of heat andpressure on rocks. The Wernerians had pointed out thatbasalt, when heated and cooled in experiments, turned toglass not crystalline rock, therefore basalt must be aprecipitate from a universal ocean.Hall allowed molten basalt to cool very slowly, and it re-formed as crystals not as a glass. By experiment, he showedthe igneous nature of basalt and granite.

In 1785, the Church held that the age of the Earth was nearly6000 years. Bibles published in 1793 were annotated to thateffect.

Siccar Point near Cockburnspath 1788Hutton believed that cyclic processes (similar to orbits inastronomy, and blood circulation in the body) operated in theEarth. He saw weathering and erosion denuding the land andproducing sediments under the sea which then consolidatedinto rock. The cycle was continued through uplift with thenecessary energy supplied by internal heat. He thought of theEarth as a dynamic heat engine capable of helping to drive thecycle. The most convincing proof of his cyclic theory wasobtained on the Berwickshire coast at Siccar Point, the third ofhis unconformity sites which he visited with Sir James Halland John Playfair.Silurian sediments were laid down and consolidated into

poorly sorted sandstones (greywackes). These rocks wereuplifted, folded and eventually eroded. Deposition of fresh redUpper Old Red Sandstone sediments took place during thefollowing geological period of the Upper Devonian. The rockcycle continued,resulting in thepresent daypicture. In thisspectacularexposure, the gapin timerepresented by theunconformity isabout 55millionyears!

Hutton's, farm at Nether Monynut.This farm rests mainly on Silurian sandstones and shales onthe eastern flank of the Lammermuir Hills. The soil is thinand stoney, and the land rises to 300m.above sea level.

Salisbury Crags Sill - Hutton's Section in Holyrood Park, EdinburghA key site in his new understanding of geology is at the southend of this escarpment formed by the intrusive dolerite sillthat is over 300 million years old.Hutton associated 'extreme heat' as the agent of folding anduplift of strata. The question as to what produced the heatcould not be answered at that time.In Hutton's own words “We know that the land is raised by apower which has for its principle subterraneous heat, but howthat land is preserved in its elevated station, is a subjectwhich we have not even the means to form a conjecture.”He believed that molten rock (magma) under pressure couldbe 'intruded' between or across layers of sedimentary rocks,sometimes reaching the surface as lava flows. He foundevidence to support this in Holyrood Park. The photographshows a section of the Salisbury Crags sill where igneous rock(called whinstone locally) has been intruded betweensedimentary layers . Here at the base of the sill magma hasforced its way into the underlying sedimentary strata. Sucha dynamic contactfeature is incompatiblewith the thencontemporaneous viewthat igneous rocks'crystallised like salt fromsea water'.

North Newton shore, Arran 1787Hutton discovered his first unconformity site in the summerof 1787. This site displays an angular unconformity betweensteeply inclined metasedimentary rocks of the PrecambrianDalradian Supergroup (600my. old) and the much youngersedimentary rocks of the latest Devonian / earliestCarboniferous Kinnesswood Formation (360my. old). Theexposure is unusual in having a calcreted 'surface' in bothseries of rocks suggesting a long period of exposure of theunconformity surface in a hot semi-arid climate when theyounger rocks started to be laid down.

Hutton roof, National Museum of Scotland.Andy Goldsworthy's four sandstone blocks invite us to lookdown through the layers of time and think of their formationfrom desert sands 270 million years ago, and yet again to theorigin of the sand grains from erosion in periods even fartherback in time.

On reading Hutton's Theory Playfairrealised how difficult it was tounderstand, and being an excellentcommunicator himself decided topublish his 'Illustrations of theHuttonian Theory' in 1802. This book setout the sound principles and “bold outline traced by Hutton”for others such as Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Archibald Geikie tobuild on.

Hutton's grave in Greyfriars Churchyard Edinburgh.His grave in the Balfour family vault in the section known asthe Covenanters' Prison was unmarked until November 1947when a simple plaque was erected marking the 150thanniversary of Hutton's death.In 1997 a Bicentennary International Conference was held inEdinburgh, a wreath laid, and a eulogy spoken by ProfessorDonald McIntyre whichfinished with these words:-“ Today we have come toknow that living creaturesevolve, that continentsdrift, that stars andgalaxies are born, mature,grow old and die. Wesalute the memory ofJames Hutton, who openedour minds to thesewondrous possibilities.”

Hutton's farmhouse at Slighhouses near Duns,Berwickshire.At the start of the 18th century agriculture was still ratherprimitive in Scotland with heavy wooden ploughs, no hedgesor fences, and a 'runrig' system of scattered strips ofcultivation. Between 1697 and 1703 there were periods offamine in the land, and harvest failures. This farm and thatat Nether Monynut, eight miles away were inherited byHutton. From 1754 to 1767 he chose to live at Slighhouses.He set about enclosing and draining the land. Heintroduced new methods of crop rotation and ploughing,with modern ideas he had seen in practice in Norfolk andFlanders. During this time he never lost his enthusiasm forsolving geological problems.Slighhouses Farm ison Upper Old RedSandstonesedimentary rocks(370my. old) with asuperficial cover ofglacial tilldeposited duringthe last ice ageabout 27000 -13000 years ago.

Hutton's Marl Pit.Hutton used Slighhouses as a living laboratory to investigateagriculture and other natural history phenomena. The marlpit he created is still in evidence, and he wrote of using marl(limey mud) on his fields to improve crop yield. He was notalways successful as some of the marl was not limey.

Jedburgh etching of Inchbonny section 1787John Clerk of Eldin's beautiful engraving is reproduced bykind permission of Sir Robert Clerk of Penicuik

Inchbonny, Jedburgh (photographed in 2001)Here, at the second of his unconformity sites, at Inchbonny,Hutton found nearly vertical sedimentary strata withhorizontal Upper Old Red Sandstone red beds on top. Heconcluded that the vertical beds must have been raised abovethe surface of the ocean , subjected to the levelling effect ofweathering and erosion before sinking below sea level when anew set of sediments mainly sandstones and mudstones weredeposited on top. Hutton was wrong in one detail. At noneof his sites of unconformity are the directly overlying rocks ofmarine origin but they are in fact fluvial.

Dunglass Collegiate Church. (15th century Gothic)This is the resting place of Sir James Hall of Dunglass,geologist and chemist, (1761 - 1832). He admired Hutton,while not accepting the enormous periods of time required forHutton’s Uniformitarian view that geological history is amatter of ordinary forces and unlimited time. In 1798 Sir James Hall investigated the action of heat andpressure on rocks. The Wernerians had pointed out thatbasalt, when heated and cooled in experiments, turned toglass not crystalline rock, therefore basalt must be aprecipitate from a universal ocean.Hall allowed molten basalt to cool very slowly, and it re-formed as crystals not as a glass. By experiment, he showedthe igneous nature of basalt and granite.

In 1785, the Church held that the age of the Earth was nearly6000 years. Bibles published in 1793 were annotated to thateffect.

Siccar Point near Cockburnspath 1788Hutton believed that cyclic processes (similar to orbits inastronomy, and blood circulation in the body) operated in theEarth. He saw weathering and erosion denuding the land andproducing sediments under the sea which then consolidatedinto rock. The cycle was continued through uplift with thenecessary energy supplied by internal heat. He thought of theEarth as a dynamic heat engine capable of helping to drive thecycle. The most convincing proof of his cyclic theory wasobtained on the Berwickshire coast at Siccar Point, the third ofhis unconformity sites which he visited with Sir James Halland John Playfair.Silurian sediments were laid down and consolidated into

poorly sorted sandstones (greywackes). These rocks wereuplifted, folded and eventually eroded. Deposition of fresh redUpper Old Red Sandstone sediments took place during thefollowing geological period of the Upper Devonian. The rockcycle continued,resulting in thepresent daypicture. In thisspectacularexposure, the gapin timerepresented by theunconformity isabout 55millionyears!

Hutton's, farm at Nether Monynut.This farm rests mainly on Silurian sandstones and shales onthe eastern flank of the Lammermuir Hills. The soil is thinand stoney, and the land rises to 300m.above sea level.

Salisbury Crags Sill - Hutton's Section in Holyrood Park, EdinburghA key site in his new understanding of geology is at the southend of this escarpment formed by the intrusive dolerite sillthat is over 300 million years old.Hutton associated 'extreme heat' as the agent of folding anduplift of strata. The question as to what produced the heatcould not be answered at that time.In Hutton's own words “We know that the land is raised by apower which has for its principle subterraneous heat, but howthat land is preserved in its elevated station, is a subjectwhich we have not even the means to form a conjecture.”He believed that molten rock (magma) under pressure couldbe 'intruded' between or across layers of sedimentary rocks,sometimes reaching the surface as lava flows. He foundevidence to support this in Holyrood Park. The photographshows a section of the Salisbury Crags sill where igneous rock(called whinstone locally) has been intruded betweensedimentary layers . Here at the base of the sill magma hasforced its way into the underlying sedimentary strata. Sucha dynamic contactfeature is incompatiblewith the thencontemporaneous viewthat igneous rocks'crystallised like salt fromsea water'.

North Newton shore, Arran 1787Hutton discovered his first unconformity site in the summerof 1787. This site displays an angular unconformity betweensteeply inclined metasedimentary rocks of the PrecambrianDalradian Supergroup (600my. old) and the much youngersedimentary rocks of the latest Devonian / earliestCarboniferous Kinnesswood Formation (360my. old). Theexposure is unusual in having a calcreted 'surface' in bothseries of rocks suggesting a long period of exposure of theunconformity surface in a hot semi-arid climate when theyounger rocks started to be laid down.

Hutton roof, National Museum of Scotland.Andy Goldsworthy's four sandstone blocks invite us to lookdown through the layers of time and think of their formationfrom desert sands 270 million years ago, and yet again to theorigin of the sand grains from erosion in periods even fartherback in time.

On reading Hutton's Theory Playfairrealised how difficult it was tounderstand, and being an excellentcommunicator himself decided topublish his 'Illustrations of theHuttonian Theory' in 1802. This book setout the sound principles and “bold outline traced by Hutton”for others such as Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Archibald Geikie tobuild on.