Megaliths

Above - An old postcard showing the Killin memorial in the 1920's.

The Highlander stands easy but alert; and is turned to look down on visitors approaching the Perthshire village from Glen Dochart. Unfortunately much of this effect has been lost today as the site has become entirely hemmed in by trees. In the 1920’s the memorial stood in clear ground. The falls of Dochart below, and Ben Lawers and the Ptarmigan ridge in the distance lended the memorial the kind of grandeur which can still be seen at the highland monuments of Glenfinnan and Spean Bridge. The combination of granite pedestal and bronze sculpture was for long considered by sculptors as the highest form of expression in monumental art, but a location such as at Killin is worth its weight in bronze.

The memorial drew considerable attention at the time and many old postcards were published and still exist today, such was its attraction. One result of this fame was that Carrick received a commission from South Africa to carve a larger version of this statue for the South African Scottish Regiment memorial, which stands in Pretoria (see Pretoria).

Left - One of the stone benches which surround the Killin memorial and enclose its highland rock garden like a megalithic circle. The floor of the area is composed of round pebbles and the words 'Lest We Forget, 1914 - 1919' are set out in black stones. The intentional naivity of this arts & crafts style approach hides a carefully considered conception and creats the sense that this is a work of folk art, underpinning the sense of its springing from and belonging to the community.