Welcome to the Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point
Follow the waymarked path along the coastline to reveal the story of James Hutton’s discovery at Siccar Point. As you go, you can access the trail content below to hear expert reflections, geopoetry and music.
The content on this page is designed to be enjoyed when you are visiting the Deep Time Trail – please don’t share this page address. Visit james-hutton.org/deeptimetrail to find out more about the Trail, including how to get here, access and safety information.
Map of the Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point, showing the 1.5km route from the Trail start, past St Helen’s Kirk, to the Deep Time Viewpoint above Siccar Point, with an extension to the East Viewpoint.
Stop 1 - Start of Trail
Welcome to the Deep Time Trail. Follow the waymarked path along the coastline to reveal the story of Hutton’s discovery at Siccar Point. As you go, scan codes to hear expert insights and reflections. Stop at the Deep Time Viewpoint to see the rocks from above and find out more.
Stop 1: Tap below to hear an introduction to the Deep Time Trail from Dr Elsa Panciroli, scientist and author.
Stop 2 - Challenging time
Tap below to hear Dr Elsa Panciroli tell you more about James Hutton and the ideas he challenged.
Stop 3 - Early formations
Tap below to hear Angus Miller talk about James Hutton’s formative years.
Stop 4 - Man of the Earth
Tap below to hear Prof Colin Campbell, CEO of The James Hutton Institute, talk about James Hutton’s time as a farmer.
Stop 5 - Nearing the Point
Tap below to hear Dr Elsa Panciroli talk about James Hutton’s shipmates and what brought them to Siccar Point.
Stop 6 - Deep Time Viewpoint
Tap below to hear how John Playfair described his visit to Siccar Point with James Hutton in 1788, read by Ally Heather.
Tap below for an audio-visual introduction to the story of the Siccar Point unconformity, with Angus Miller from the Edinburgh Geological Society.
Tap below to hear Siccar Point, a song by Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan, describing the journey by James Hutton, James Hall and John Playfair to Siccar Point. This song is from the album Still As Your Sleeping, available here.
Stop 7 - East Viewpoint
Take a rest here and enjoy some geopoetics and music with your geology. In front of you is a side view of Hutton’s unconformity, with the flatter layers of red sandstone and, beneath them, the upright layers of the older grey rocks.
Tap below to hear an introduction by Elsa Panciroli to the geopoetry available at this stop.
Siccar Point Poetry
Here’s a video of a performance of Patrick Corbett‘s Siccar Point poem which you can read on the panel here:
Jack Cooper wrote a poem about Siccar Point which won the the Middleton-Miller award for most Promising Young Writer in the The Hugh Miller Writing Competition 2019-2020. You can hear Jack read his poem here – click or tap on the bar below to play the audio track.
Siccar Point Music
Siccar Point has inspired many poets, artists and musicians. Michael Begg is a composer who blurs the boundaries between music and science. The creation of this work included holding a microphone into the Siccar rocks, capturing sounds from the ‘abyss of time’. The track is called Deep Time, and features on the album Witness: Ambient Chamber Works 2020-2024 – click or tap on the bar below to play the audio track.
Stop 8 - Deep time futures
Tap below to hear Prof David Farrier reflect on what Deep Time means for our futures.
At the end of your visit, please complete our visitor survey so that we can learn what is working for our visitors and where we can make improvements. Thank you!