THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL EDINBURGH

Located in Edinburgh the building which has been many times called "a coronach in stone" and designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, A.R.A., RSA. (1864-1930) and inaugurated by the former Prince of Wales on July 14 1927, it stands at the northern end of Crown Square, on the site of barrack buildings which in turn succeeded the Chapel of St. Mary, founded by David I, rebuilt by David II in the fourteenth century, and finally demolished to make room for the barracks.

The Memorial consists of a Gallery of Honour with projecting bays and entered by a noble porch, on each side of which wreaths are laid and over which is a figure representing the Survival of the Spirit. Within, opposite to the porch is a most impressive Shrine. A remarkable feature of the building is that, with the exception of the Shrine, it is less of a new structure than a remodelling of old ugly barracks.

The slightly severe aspect of the exterior, with its walls of ashlar, gives no hint of the rare beauty of the interior, and , the visitor can hardly fail to experience a feeling of awed surprise on entering. Straight in front is the archway of the Shrine, guarded by exquisitely designed gates

To right and left stretches the nobly proportioned Hall of Honour, its walls occupied by regimental and other memorials, while the frieze bears the names of battle honours. Each Scottish regiment, whether raised in the Home Country or in the Overseas Dominions, has its own memorial and display of historic battle colours, and visitors can read, on the walls and in the Rolls of Honour, the numbers and names of those who served and fell in the war of 1914-18.

The Shrine, in the words of the late Sir Lawrence Weaver, " bears much the same relation to the Hall of Honors as the sanctuary of a church to its nave. The Hall is for record and remembrance ; the Shrine for those deep emotions that transcend individual sorrows and swell into a Sursum corda for those who see what the sacrifice: has won for mankind."

To this end stained - glass windows and other decorations were designed, in every case by Scottish craftsmen. On Either side is a fine bronze frieze in which are depicted Scots man and women in all their varied wartime uniforms , and in the centre, below the hovering figure of St. Michael, is the beautiful Casket, given by their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary and containing the hundred thousand names of the fallen. Through the floor of the Shrine the rugged rock of the hill has been allowed to project, as if to prove on what sure foundation is based this symbol of a nations grief and gratitude.

The Memorial is extraordinarily comprehensive even Man’s humble yet helpful animal friends that played a role in this first World War are not forgotten.

'The Palace Yard, or Crown Square, overlooked by the memorial, contains nearly all the historic apartments of the castle. Queen Mary’s Bedroom, at the southeast corner, was the: birthplace, on June 19, 1566, of James the Sixth of Scotland and First England. The discovery (1830) of some bones, fragments of cloth and pieces of wood in the wall of the Royal Apartments gave rise to a "Coffin in the Wall" legend, according to which the bones were those of Queen Mary’s child and James VI.

Another picturesque but unhistorical episode, oft retailed, is of the lowering of the infant prince in a basket from the window of the Queen's bedroom to escape the hands of her enemies. The vaulted Crown Room adjoins the Royal apartments Here, secured in a strong iron cage, are to be seen the Scottish " Regalia, or the "Honours of Scotland," a crown, scepter sword of state, and other jewels. With them are exhibited the golden collar of the Garter, conferred by Queen Elizabeth on James VI, with the George and Dragon, the badge of the Order bequeathed by Cardinal York, the brother of Prince Charles Edward, to George IV, and sent to Edinburgh Castle in 1830.

Here, too, is the oak chest in which the regalia were deposited at the Union, and in which they lay concealed for over a century until they were " officially " discovered in 1817 by a Commission, among the members of which was Sir Walter Scott. They had been " lost " previously at the time of the Commonwealth, having first been hidden under the pulpit oft he Church of Kin Neff in Kincardineshire after being secretly conveyed out of Dunnottar Castle by Mrs. Granger, the wife of the parish minister, at the instance of the Governor, Sir George Ogilvie.