Arthur's Seat

This guide to Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh follows James Hutton, a gentleman farmer turned obsessive rock-watcher who moved house nearby in the 1770s just so he could return almost daily to study a seam of dark rock in the crags. At a time when everyone believed the Earth was a few thousand years old, shaped by one great flood, you'll hear what Hutton found where pale sedimentary rock meets darker intruded stone, and how it set him against the era's dominant theory. It follows his quiet, unglamorous method of climbing back with his hammer, ledge by ledge, to make his case.