Cupar’s ‘Geo’ Horse Sculpture is a 9’ high metal horse sculpture celebrating three themes – Clydesdale Horses, Meadow Ecology & Cupar-born Sci-Fi writer, Robert Duncan Milne (1844-99). It was installed and unveiled at Robert Duncan Milne Court on Carslogie Road in 2023.

The sculpture – made by local metal-sculptor, Cameron ‘Cammie’ Durie, and facilitated by Cupar Arts Chair, Margaret Robertson – was funded by Robertson Developers, Fife Council, and Lottery Funding Scotland. Dundee University supplied extensive information on Robert Duncan Milne and the project was supported by Cupar Development Trust and local SCIO Three Estates Cupar. We were lucky to be at Cammie’s workshop when the incredible horse’s head began its journey to the installation site – a video we shared on TikTok and Facebook that you can view via this link.

CLYDESDALE AND OTHER LOCAL HORSES

The horse sculpture celebrates Clydesdale and other working horses from Cupar’s rural and agricultural history and farmer’s market days, and the many riding schools and equine interests in the surrounding landscape today.

Clydesdale horses are still regularly admired at the annual Fife Agricultural Show, held nearby. The sculpture celebrates the classic, noble horse’s head and gentle demeaner, as a timely reminder of the quieter, slower-paced life of bygone days.

Named “Geo” by the sculptor, from the futuristic, geometric design, it strikes a thoughtful, iconic image.

WILD-FLOWER MEADOWS AND ECOLOGY

The sculpture’s lower, colourful decoration represents meadows of Cupar’s rural past, and meadow-ecology ideas of today, to protect wildlife and the environment into the future.

Community Involvement

The traditional-craft enamelled flowers, leaves, bees and butterflies, amidst swaying grasses, were made by local people at National Lottery funded workshop open-days, and local community support-group sessions: MS Society, Riding for the Disabled, Express Group, Kilmaron School, FASS and Lucky Ewe. Thanks to all for their creativity in making this vibrant and inspiring sculpture decoration.

ROBERT DUNCAN MILNE (1844-1899)

A Cupar- born, San Fransisco Sci-Fi writer: on Cupar Arts’ request, the housing where the sculpture is situated, is named after this exceptional, but little-known, “Cupar writer” – Robert Duncan Milne Court. Significantly, he was brought up in Carslogie House (now a ruin) situated nearby, and as his father was the minister at St. James’s Church in St Catherine St, Cupar, Robert would have regularly travelled into Cupar, past the sculpture site, on foot or by horse and carriage. In celebration of RDM, he is depicted on board a hot air balloon (on the back panel of the horse).

After attending Oxford University, Robert eventually lived in San Fransisco, where he became a prolific Sci-Fi writer, predicting many technological advancements such as the internet, television, drones, and even climate change. The hot air balloon is a nod to such developments, typified by his story “Into the Sun” in which the narrator escapes the catastrophic impact of a comet by flying from San Fransisco to the mountains of Tibet.

Robert Duncan Milne’s Sci-Fi Stories were regularly published in the San Fransisco “Argonaut” magazine but, due to his untimely death in 1899, his writing was never published as a body of work in book form. Dundee University have recently researched RDM and are promoting his little-known, but visionary stories, as one of the first significant Sci Fi writers. A friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, RDM was a pioneer of the genre of whom Cupar can be proud.

A quote from one of his stories, relevant to the horse theme of this sculpture, illustrates RDM’s visionary foresight: In the story “The Centenary of the Elixir”, published in The Argonaut magazine, San Fransisco, 2nd September 1889, in which the narrator is hypnotised and sent on a psychic time-travel journey a hundred years into the future, he predicts: “The Horse is fast becoming an extinct species, our labor saving engines, electric-cars, and air-carriages having rendered him almost useless.”

The sculpture’s futuristic-style, rust finish, and enamelled meadow, combines RDM’s “steampunk” age of invention, the colour of Cupar’s agricultural earth and the timely appreciation of ecological ideas, in a symbol of hope for the future. The silhouette of Robert Duncan Milne in the hot air balloon flying high above a meadow, on the back of the sculpture, is from the only known photograph of him.

 

Book launch and free talk …

A new book – The Essential Robert Duncan Milne – Stories by the Lost Pioneer of Science Fiction (edited by Keith Williams & Ari Brin, published by Bloomsbury) – is the most comprehensive selection of RDM’s stories published together for the first time.

Professor Williams is giving a talk in the Local Studies Duncan Room at Cupar Library (Wednesday 26th February 2025, 6 – 7pm). The new series of talks begins with the fascinating story of this forgotten Fifer. Dr Williams, Reader in English, University of Dundee will cover his work on the book with Science Fiction programme graduate, Ari Brin (based in California) – the first critical edition of Milne’s stories in 126 years.

Tickets are free but required: contact Cupar Library 01334 659367 or email via this link to book a place.

Margaret Robertson of Cupar Arts says: “It’s great to see RDM being further promoted and appreciated in his home town.” There will be another RDM display and talk in June, at St James Church, Cupar, being organised jointly by Three Estates Cupar and Cupar Arts. More on that to come!

Supporting Cupar & Country …

The information in this feature was first published in a leaflet by Cupar Arts and the partners involved in this unique project. Mindful of the costs associated with the print and distribution of literature in support of community initiatives, CuparNow has offered to digitise the same on this platform and to share through our channels. We hope that this helps to support community groups and also extends the availability of the materials – both in their shelf life as well as in reaching a wider audience through our channels.

 

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