Full Description
This is an extraordinary book, with its origin in the
author's long-standing interest in
monuments and memorials, arising from many years of wandering Scotland's hills
and glens. The Covid-19 lockdown provided an opportunity to look into this more
seriously, and the idea of a book was born.
It
reflects and encapsulates a huge variety of monuments in every style imaginable - pillars, towers,
obelisks, mausoleums, cairns and many more curious shapes. Everything from
much-loved dogs and horses to seemingly obscure members of the aristocracy (the
biggest monuments of all) have been commemorated and sculptors, artists and
designers have let their imagination run free resulting in a glorious
collection of places to visit. Some
apparent memorials - known as follies - were designed solely to provide a focus
for the eye and we are blessed with a substantial number of these
eccentricities.
Grouped
into 20 categories, the book includes writers,
royalty and inventors and objects such as mausoleums, follies, the military and
political figures and events. Battles (famous and less well-known), mountains,
animals (even a pigeon) and the millennium all feature but throughout the book,
the monuments and memorials are placed in proper context, which is important in
understanding their timing and location.
There is a section devoted to
mishaps at sea and this includes some of the most beautiful and poignant
memorials of all. For a small country we have an astonishing number of very
fine fountains. Some of these were erected to mark Queen Victoria's Golden and
Diamond Jubilees, and we find in Victoria a notable supporter of monuments.
With the aid of this book readers
will be able to anticipate the joy of discovering a monument and unearthing the
reason for its creation.
