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Today is #RLSDay which marks the birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, born #OTD in 1850.
In June 1869 Stevenson visited #Orkney on a tour of lighthouses aboard the @NLB_UK yacht Pharos.
In June 1869 Stevenson visited #Orkney on a tour of lighthouses aboard the @NLB_UK yacht Pharos.
He wrote in a letter to his mother:
'The first sight one gets of Kirkwall is rather striking - a cluster of grey roofs with the red cathedral and a knot of umber ruin at the top, and the sea at it's foot, running into a long and shallow creek.' #RLSDay
'The first sight one gets of Kirkwall is rather striking - a cluster of grey roofs with the red cathedral and a knot of umber ruin at the top, and the sea at it's foot, running into a long and shallow creek.' #RLSDay
'But the glory of Kirkwall, as of Salisbury, lies about it's Cathedral, which towers, with narrow gables and slope-slate roof and wonder of red stonework and white, above the little green and little grey town on the seaboard.' #RLSDay
(Artwork by William Daniell 1769-1837)
(Artwork by William Daniell 1769-1837)
He also wrote of St Magnus Cathedral: 'You enter through the usual triple door of Gothic churches...with mouldings of red and white, and red columns crumbled down to the consistency of Madeira cake.'
And now we want Madeira cake.
(
St Magnus Cathedral from the Archives today)
And now we want Madeira cake.
(
St Magnus Cathedral from the Archives today)
