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Suggested Completion of the National Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh, as a War Memorial

Architect: Browne, George Washington, Sir, PPRSA RSA · 1853-1939

Suggested Completion of the National Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh, as a War Memorial

With the increasing casualty rate amongst British and Allied troops as the First World War continued, coupled with the decision by the UK Government…

With the increasing casualty rate amongst British and Allied troops as the First World War continued, coupled with the decision by the UK Government not to repatriate the bodies of servicemen killed in action or who died from their wounds overseas, it was recognised that the creation of local monuments to honour those who served and those who made the supreme sacrifice should be encouraged. The National Monument on Calton Hill was conceived as a monument to those who had fallen in the Napoleonic Wars as early as 1815 [the year of Wellington's final victory over Napoleon at Waterloo]. The first idea, mooted by Archibald Elliot, was for a triumphal arch at the East end of Waterloo Place; this failed to materialise as too did his subsequent plan for a Pantheon. In 1822 the promoters, who included Sir Walter Scott, Lord Cockburn and Lord Elgin, appealed to the public to raise £42,000 'to erect a facsimile of the Parthenon' with C R Cockerell appointed the following year [1823] to ensure the accuracy of the reproduction, and W H Playfair RSA as resident architect [1824]. Less than half the money needed was ever raised and the building, which would have served as a church, although begun in 1826 came to a halt in 1829 with only part of the stylobate, twelve columns at the West end complete with architrave built. Further proposals were made in 1907 to complete the Monument as a National Gallery (to be linked to Waterloo Place via vanicular railway) or as a monument to mark the bicentenary of the Act of Union and in 1908 to make it part of the buildings for a proposed Scottish Parliament, all came to nothing. [The Buildings of Scotland, Edinburgh, Penguin, 1984, p.437]