Notre Dame inferno echoes 19th century conflagration in the heart of Edinburgh

While Edinburgh’s Tron Kirk may not be quite in the same league as Notre Dame, it suffered a similar fate in the great fire of 1824. Henry Cockburn, in Memorials of his Time, gives a vivid description of the event.

“We ran out from the Court, gowned and wigged, and saw that it was the steeple, an old Dutch thing, composed of wood, iron, and lead, and edged all the way up with bits of ornament. Some of the sparks of the preceding night had nestled in it, and had at last blown its dry bones into flame. There could not be a more beautiful firework; only it was wasted on the day-light. It was an hour’s brilliant blaze.

“The spire was too high and too combustible to admit of any attempt to save it, so that we had nothing to do but to admire. And it was certainly beautiful… the conflagration was long presided over by a calm and triumphant gilded cock on the top of the spire, which seemed to look on the people, and to listen to the crackling, in disdain.

“But it was undermined at last, and dived down into the burning gulf, followed by the upper half of the steeple. The lower half held out a little longer, till the very bell being melted, this half came down also, with a world of sparks.

“There was one occurrence which made the gazers start. It was at a quarter before twelve, when the minute hand of the clock stood horizontally, the internal heat – for the clock was untouched outwardly – cracked the machinery, and the hand dropped suddenly and silently down to the perpendicular.”

Since that time the Tron steeple has been restored to an even greater splendour.

Let us hope that this may be the experience of Notre Dame

JOHN CHALMERS Canaan Lane, Edinburgh

As we watched Notre Dame Cathedral burning on our screens, we saw crowds of onlookers who, like us, were transfixed by the flames.

In their faces we saw tears and we heard their songs as they came together in the spectacle of tragedy.

Though far away in another country, we felt something too. Structures like Notre Dame are not just buildings but fixed points of personal and cultural reference in an otherwise chaotic world: they help give that sense of place that is so important to us all.

They are more than assemblages of stones and wood, they represent millions of experiences, collective and individual, layered over time. To walk within them and physically touch the fruits of the labour that built them is to journey through time.

If there’s a message of hope from the flames, it’s the outpouring of support, the pledges to rebuild and the commitment to honour what’s gone before.

Ultimately, it’s the realisation that heritage matters to us all. Let’s not take it for granted or wait for the next tragedy to recognise and celebrate what we have.

Experience it now and, together, let us protect it.

SIMON SKINNER Chief Executive, National Trust

for Scotland, Hermiston Quay , Cultins Road, Edinburgh