Until I looked up Elgin War Memorial before our trip I had no idea there was a New Elgin. It lies to the south of Elgin itself.

We came up via the A 941 after turning off the A 95 at Craigellachie and passed though another Highland League town, Rothes, which has no less than four distilleries, but we didn’t have time to stop there for a look round.

Since I knew it where to find it I was able to stop to photograph New Elgin’s War Memorial. It is a figure of a kilted soldier with reversed rifle above a square plinth with scrolled edges.

Dedication, “To the men of New Elgin, Ashgrove and Mycroft,” and names:-

Great War names. Note Nurse Mary Fraser VAD:-

Memorial’s reverse. Second World War names:-

In between Ballindalloch and Criagellachie Bridge we turned off the A 95 to find Inveravon Church and its Pictish Stones.

The stones were once in the open but are now kept in a porch:-

Information Boards:-

In the churchyard I found two Commonwealth War Graves.

Private A G Patterson, Seaforth Highlanders, 10/3/1915, aged 18:-

Private J A Cantlie, Gordon Highlanders, 30/5/1918, aged 20:-

The elegant Craigellachie Bridge was built over the River Spey near Aberlour (or Charlestown of Aberlour) by renowned Scottish engineer Thomas Telford. The village is home to the distillery which makes Aberlour Whisky.

I was able to go off the main A 95 road to take a few pictures of the bridge.

From other side of bridge:-

Bridge towers:-

Plaque denoting Thomas Telford’s contribution:-

Further information plaque:-

Bridge from modern road:-

Continuing our trip up north in April  I spotted another War Memorial. This was by the side of the A 95 road on a pretty sharp bend.

There is no location identifier on the memorial but this pink granite cross on a pyramidal base is Ballindalloch War Memorial. Ballindalloch village is itself small but has two distilleries and a castle to its name:-

It’s dedicated for both World Wars:-

After leaving Grantown-on-Spey we headed north on what in the end, over a few days, turned out to be a journey through the heartland of the Highland League past and present.

A few miles north of Grantown  I spotted a road sign which said “Advie War Memorial” so I had to turn off the main road to find it. The Memorial, a tapering granite pillar atop a rectangular plinth bearing names on its four faces, stands beside the side road opposite what looks like a village hall.

Dedication and names:-

It appears this is a replacement memorial. This webpage says the original was damaged in 2006 and its remains are in Advie churchyard.

More names:-

Grantown-on-Spey is a town in the former county of Moray in the Highland region of Scotland.

Its War Memorial is a stone column on a square plinth and sits beside the town square. The names of killed and missing are on bronze plaques on the plinth where can also be found a frieze depicting a kilted soldier. When we visited the memorial was decorated with flags making some of the inscriptions unreadable. (Unobstructed photos can be found here.)

Dedication and names of men from Grantown-on-Spey. (The dedication is highlighted here.)

The next plaque bears names from Abernathy (obscured,) Duthil, Rothiemurchus and Aviemore.

The top named town below (Inverallan) is obscured but Cromdale and Advie are discernible:-

The Royal British Legion building in Grantown has minor Art Deco styling and was also decorated for remembrance (even though it was April.)

White House Cemetery lies beside the N313 road just north-east of Ieper (Ypres,) Belgium.

It is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery and contains mostly graves of soldiers killed from 1915-1918, but there are 9 burials from the Second World War including a Belgian casualty.

Cemetery from road:-

Entrance Gate:-

Panoramic stitch:-

Stone memorial to Great War soldiers buried elsewhere:-

There were too many graves from the Great War (1163) to itemise them individually. The graves of the nine World War 2 dead are shown below.

Three WW2 Graves. Cpt V C Marr, MC, The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 23/5/1940, aged 41. Cpl F S Payne, The Queen’s Royal Regiment, 23/5/1940. Cpl F C Schilling, The Buffs, 23/5/1940, aged 32:-

Thrre more graves from 1940. Private F T Birchall, Royal Sussex Regiment, 23/5/1940, aged 20. Private G A Edwards, Royal Sussex Regiment, 23/5/1940, aged 20. Lt Col F T Green, Northamptonshire Regiment, 23/5/1940, aged 41:-

Two 1940 graves. Gunner D Strachan, Royal Artillery, 22/5/1940, aged 36. Fusilier W Penrose, Lancashire Fusiliers, 22/5/1940:-

Louis Henri Vanninsel, 13/9/1898 – 24/5/1940. Stierf Voor Belgie:-

Thee was a fenced off crater nearby signalling the continuing legacy of the Great War,

Ypres Town Cemetery sits beside the Menin Road, not far from the Menin Gate in Ieper, (Ypres) Belgium.

It contains a number of Commonwealth War Graves of Great War dead.

I noted that these were all casualties from 1914. They were no doubt interred here since at that time there was no Commonwealth War Graves Commission to oversee the burials and these would have been done on an ad hoc basis. After the war they will have been given the honour of a CWGC headstone.

Reverse view of above:-

Several graves lay close together. Cpt Robert Giffard, Royal Field Artillery, 1/11/1914. Cpt A A L Stephen, DSO, Scots Guards, 31/10/1914. Cpt & Adjt W H Ferrar, Welch Regiment, 31/10/1914:-

2nd Lt J A Tucker, Royal Field Artillery, 1/11/1914. Cpt G P Shedden, Royal Garrison Artillery, 31/10/1914. Cpt J F Allen, Loyal North Lancs Regt, 5/11/1914 aged 32:-

Captain Shedden’s grave is unusual in having a separate memorial stone cross behind the CWGC one. This may have been erected by his family before the CWGC headstone and is probably only there because the cemetery is not in the care of the CWGC, where all headstones are the same shape and, beyond wording carved into the bottom of the stone, such individual commemorations are not allowed.

Camelon is an area of Falkirk.

The War Memorial is a new one (one of the plaques says, “Erected in 2016”) and sits by the side of the B816 road near Lock 16 of the Forth and Clyde Canal. It’s unusual in being constructed of steel panels each with a jagged cut through it:-

Reverse  view:-

Inscribed memorial stone:-

Name plaques and dedication which reads “Erected by the people of Camelon in faithful memory of all their fellow Mariners who gave their lives in time of conflict so that we today should enjoy ans cherish the blessing of freeedom.” Mariners is a nickname for all people from Camelon:-

More names:-

Principia:-

Commander’s Residence:-

Barracks:-

Bath-House:-

Granary:-

Annexe:-

Beyond the Wall:-