JK GILLON

The Mound has long been a focal point for outdoor performance in Edinburgh. During the first half of the 19th century, 'Geordie Boyd's Mud Brig', the Mound, was a wide unkept space, described by Lord Cockburn as a 'receptacle of all things disreputable'.

On holidays and Saturdays, the site now occupied by the National Gallery of Scotland became the 'resort of low class traders and entertainers' who set up roulette tables, shooting galleries and coconut shies. Turkey Rhubarb (a guaranteed cure-all patent medicine), religious tracts, small dogs, spectacles and linnets in paper bags were among the goods on sale. Temporary shows were also allowed to use the site. These included Wombwell's Menagerie and in September 1820, a six-foot high, 310-stone ox was exhibited to the public at the charge of 1/- for ladies and gentlemen and 6d for the working class.

A more permanent show was the Rotunda, built in 1823 to house 'Barker's Panorama' in which Dioramas were shown. Dioramas were an early type of cinema involving a superior form of magic lantern display.

In its heyday, the rotunda offered six one-hour performances a day with commentary and musical accompaniment. The first public show consisted of a 'Grand Historical panorama of the Battle of Waterloo', with music provided by a full military band. The most popular diorama displays, drawing the largest audiences, were exhibitions of slides of ghostly apparitions and demons, the 19th century equivalent of horror films, and the comic effects of moving slides.

Educational 'documentary' displays, such as slides illustrating the movement of the planets and scenes of European cities with appropriate music and commentaries, were also a major attraction.

The Rotunda was demolished in 1850 to make way for the construction of the National Gallery.