Plan showing means of supplying Edinburgh Castle with water, 20 June 1802

Robert Darling, an engineer and mathematician, drew this sketch of a pictorial elevation to show the means of supplying Edinburgh Castle ‘with excellent water from a plentiful spring at the north-east corner of its Rock, which never freezes in winter nor dries in summer, by means of pumps and cisterns within bombproof turrets like a staircase.’ The hard rock that the castle was built on provided an excellent defensive position, however it meant that penetrating the earth to reach water below was difficult and, despite a deep well having been dug, water had ran out during a long siege or drought on many occasions.

Credit: NRS, RHP49992 (Link to the Online Catalogue entry)