Monday March 10th 2025
The Stone of Remembrance at Edinburgh City Chambers was damaged in a vandalism attack in November 2022.
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Luke Jackson
Plans for a new installation that could be built to protect the war memorial at the City Chambers are to go before Edinburgh councillors.
The stone of Remembrance was damaged in an arson attack in November 2022, in an action called “disgusting and disrespectful” by Lord Provost Robert Aldridge.
Conservative councillor Iain Whyte put forward a motion for the council in 2022 to consider security around the memorial, which was approved.
Architects Benjamin Tindall and Associates were commissioned by the council in 2023 to design modifications to the stone’s environment in hopes of protecting it, producing two proposals.
The stone plays an important role in Scotland’s Remembrance Day commemorations, with the Lord Provost and the First Minister traditionally attending a Sunday service.
But outside that time, the report says that the stone is ‘overlooked’, noting that the pavement in front of it is often used by stalls and buskers throughout the year.
Additionally, it says that it is often used as a seat, with the covered archway which it sits under used as a rain shelter.
Various attempts have been made to protect it, including bronze plaques and surveillance cameras, but these have not been effective.
At present, the plans for a new area around the stone are unfunded, with council officers planning on looking for alternative funding sources for the works, estimated to cost between £145,000 and £189,000.
Both proposals from the architects would involve repaving the area around the stone, and the installation of brass ‘interpretation barriers’ near it to both protect the stone and inform visitors about it.
One of the proposals involves opening part of the archway under which the stone sits to the public, allowing 360 degree viewing, while the other proposes leaving it closed.
At present, the archway is closed off to the public by a series of low granite bollards with chains running between them at each entry point.
Councillors will make a decision on the subsidy at the Finance and Resources committee on Thursday which can be viewed HERE. (https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=140&MId=7360).
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