Let's complete the Harlaw monument
The suggestions on how the 600th anniversary of the battle of Harlaw might be celebrated are to be commended. May I add another suggestion?
On 24th July 1911, the 500th anniversary of the battle, Aberdeen City Council inaugurated the Harlaw Monument which cost £350 to erect. It was designed by Dr William Kelly, the Aberdeen architect. The monument commemorates Provost Robert Davidson of Aberdeen and all who lost their lives in the battle. Pictured on the right is Dr William Kelly’s drawing of the monument with the Mither Tap in the background.
The monument is decorated with eight blank panels which were intended to carry the coats of arms of the principal protagonists along with an additional four armorial devices. As three of the arms were to represent Macdonald, Maclean and Macintosh, there was an objection to paying for the arms of the ‘enemy’, and as a result no heraldry was added to the monument. It has been left ‘unfinished’ for almost 100 years!
The arms to be originally included were: City of Aberdeen, Leslie, Mar, Forbes, Irvine, Keith, Leith, Ogilvy, Scrymgeour, Macdonald, Maclean, and Macintosh. An appeal fund could be set up to add the missing heraldry and complete the monument as part of the 600th Anniversary.
Charles J. Burnett,
Ross Herald of Arms, Portsoy, Banffshire
What happened to the painting?
I read of Leopard’s involvement in the Battle of Harlaw project. Whatever happened to the painting of the battle which hung above the gantry in the wee bar (later called ‘Jean’s Bar’ after the head barmaid) in the Caledonian Hotel, Aberdeen?
Norman Adams,
Aberdeen