Peebles War Memorial

The day dawned bright and clear so for our first outing for several days we drove down to one of our favourite destinations, Peebles, where we examined the War Memorial in the town quadrangle.

The Peebles War memorial, commemorating 541 men and women of Peeblesshire who fell on the First World War and the 110 who died in the Second World War, was designed by Burnett Napier Henderson Orphoot FRIBA RSA (1881-1964). His1919 plan was to include a 'delicate cross on a low pedestal enriched with mosaics in the colours of those of the Cathedral of Monreale at Palermo...providing a bright note of colour otherwise lacking in the surroundings'. It was unveiled by Field Marshall Earl Haig, Commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force on 5th october 1922.


The Celtic cross is richly decorated with mosaics in Sicilian billiemi (a rare nougat-like marble found near Palermo) designed by Guiseppe Mantranga of Palermo and laid by Leonard Grandison and Son of Peebles, as were the tiles in the memorial. I have blipped the head of the cross as I think the intricacy of the design deserves to be seen in detail so do look in large.