Qualla: Scottish National War Memorial

Scottish National War Memorial: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit TomGough from Birmingham, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. At the heart of Edinburgh Castle, in a small dim hall built into the bones of an old barrack block, a sealed casket sits on an altar. The altar sits on the highest point of the Castle Rock, where the basalt itself rises through the floor. Inside the casket are the Rolls of Honour for the First World War: more than 147,000 names of Scottish soldiers killed between 4 August 1914 and 28 June 1919. Around the walls are open lists adding the names of those killed in every war since. The Scottish National War Memorial was opened in 1927 to remember individuals, not abstractions - which is why every name was written down, why every name is still being added, and why visitors keep their voices low.

Image: TomGough from Birmingham, UK | CC BY-SA 2.0

Scottish National War Memorial: Robert Lorimer's Quiet Argument

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Uday R Nair, CC BY-SA 3.0. The architect Robert Lorimer was commissioned in 1919 to design a memorial inside the castle. His original scheme was larger and bolder, but it ran into opposition from the Cockburn Association and others who feared a grand new building would overwhelm the castle's existing fabri...

Image: Uday R Nair | CC BY-SA 3.0

Scottish National War Memorial: Sculptors, Stained Glass, and a Calling of St Andrew

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit xlibber, CC BY 2.0. Lorimer assembled a team of Scotland's leading artists. Sculptor Alexander Carrick carved Courage on the entrance facade; Percy Portsmouth carved Freedom on the western front; Alice Meredith-Williams produced Truth and the relief of The Calling of St Andrew that sits above the ce...

Image: xlibber | CC BY 2.0

Scottish National War Memorial: 147,000 Names, and 50,000 More

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 4.0. The original purpose was to commemorate Scots and members of Scottish regiments killed in the First World War. The casket on the altar contains the full Rolls of Honour: over 147,000 individuals named, ranked, regimented. After 1945, the limiting dates were modified. Another 50,0...

Image: Kim Traynor | CC BY-SA 4.0

Scottish National War Memorial: Their Name Liveth For Evermore

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0. The phrase carved above the apse comes from Ecclesiasticus, chosen by Rudyard Kipling for British war cemeteries after 1918. "Their name liveth for evermore." It is the explicit promise the memorial makes: not that anyone will forget the wars, but that no individual will be lost ...

Image: Postdlf | CC BY-SA 3.0