The Black Watch Monument on the Mound

The Black Watch Memorial

Thank you to Bill Irvine, Corstorphine, Edinburgh, who wrote:

Bayonets Removed

"If you look at the memorial on the mound you will notice that the bayonets on the rifles have been removed.

My father told me that, as a boy, his brother was responsible, for which he was sent to borstal

I beleive the deed was committed not long after the memorial was unveiled."

Bill Irvine, Corstorphine, Edinburgh: August 30, 2006

The Edinburgh Evening News reported in March 2007:

Bayonets to be Replaced

"The statue was erected in 1910 to remember the bravery of the men who died during combat in the Boer War of 1899-1902. There is no other monument to the Black Watch in Edinburgh.

For almost 100 years the soldiers on the Black Watch memorial have been missing their bayonets.

Now a military history group, 'The One o'Clock Gun Association', is to raise £10,000 to replace the bayonets, rifle barrels and pipe drones that were snapped from the battle scene on the plinth.

The-11-foot-tall soldier who stands on granite pedestal will be cleaned up and restored to his original bronze colour."

George Robinson, Secretary of 'The One o'Clock Gun Association' said:

"The trees around it have grown so tall that people hardly even notice it it has become Edinburgh's forgotten statue.

It's been so badly beaten by the weather, it's almost green now, instead of bronze. You would think he was in camouflage uniform, he blends in so well with the trees now, you hardly notice him.

Councillor Donald Anderson, the city's culture leader and a spokesman for the the secretary for the Black Watch both welcomed the move to restore the monument.

Edinburgh Evening News: March 9, 2007, p.3