A View Of The Celebrated Logan Rock near the Land's Endwith the Machinery erected for the purpose of replacing it.
Tonkin. delin: Vibert, lithog:
Penzance. Published by Tonkin & Vibert. Novembr. 16 1824.
Original hand coloured lithograph, sheet 425 x 555mm. 16¾ x 21¾". Two horizontal creases.
The Logan Rock is an eighty ton granite boulder perched on the edge of a headland overlooking the Atlantic ocean one mile south of the Cornish village of Treen. It an example of a logan or rocking stone, being finely balanced due to the actions of weathering. Plate 4 (numbered upper right) from a set of six illustrating the events of 1824: in April Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith (nephew of the famous poet Oliver Goldsmith) and ten or twelve of his crew of the cutter HMS Nimble rocked the huge granite boulder armed with bars and levers until it fell from its cliff-top perch. Goldsmith was apparently motivated to disprove the claim of Dr. Borlase, who wrote in 'Antiquities of Cornwall' in 1754 that "...the extremities of [the Rock's] base are at such a distance from each other, and so well secured by their nearness to the stone which it stretches itself upon, that it is morally impossible that any lever, or indeed force, however applied in a mechanical way, can remove it from its present situation". The displacement of the rock upset the local residents considerably, since Logan Rock had been used to draw tourists to the area. The Lords of the Admiralty were persuaded to lend Lieutenant Goldsmith the required apparatus for replacing it. The Admiralty sent thirteen capstans with blocks and chains from the dock yard at Plymouth, and contributed £25 towards expenses. After months of effort, at 4.20pm on Tuesday, the 2nd of November, 1824, in front of thousands of spectators and with the help of more than sixty men and block and tackle, the Logan Rock was finally repositioned and returned to "rocking condition". However, it apparently no longer vibrates or "logs" as easily as it did before the incident.
Abbey Scenery: 106.
[Ref: 13521] £260.00
Penzance. Published by Tonkin & Vibert. Novembr. 16 1824.
Original hand coloured lithograph, sheet 425 x 555mm. 16¾ x 21¾". Two horizontal creases.
The Logan Rock is an eighty ton granite boulder perched on the edge of a headland overlooking the Atlantic ocean one mile south of the Cornish village of Treen. It an example of a logan or rocking stone, being finely balanced due to the actions of weathering. Plate 4 (numbered upper right) from a set of six illustrating the events of 1824: in April Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith (nephew of the famous poet Oliver Goldsmith) and ten or twelve of his crew of the cutter HMS Nimble rocked the huge granite boulder armed with bars and levers until it fell from its cliff-top perch. Goldsmith was apparently motivated to disprove the claim of Dr. Borlase, who wrote in 'Antiquities of Cornwall' in 1754 that "...the extremities of [the Rock's] base are at such a distance from each other, and so well secured by their nearness to the stone which it stretches itself upon, that it is morally impossible that any lever, or indeed force, however applied in a mechanical way, can remove it from its present situation". The displacement of the rock upset the local residents considerably, since Logan Rock had been used to draw tourists to the area. The Lords of the Admiralty were persuaded to lend Lieutenant Goldsmith the required apparatus for replacing it. The Admiralty sent thirteen capstans with blocks and chains from the dock yard at Plymouth, and contributed £25 towards expenses. After months of effort, at 4.20pm on Tuesday, the 2nd of November, 1824, in front of thousands of spectators and with the help of more than sixty men and block and tackle, the Logan Rock was finally repositioned and returned to "rocking condition". However, it apparently no longer vibrates or "logs" as easily as it did before the incident.
Abbey Scenery: 106.
[Ref: 13521] £260.00