Virtual tour

The Eastern Transept

The Eastern Transept continues the theme of inclusiveness as with the Western transept. It is identical in layout to the transept at the western end.

The Eastern Transept continues the theme of the Hall of Honour and is dedicated to monuments of individual corps. Here however the principle monuments are decorated with relief sculpture. On the east wall a wide bronze panel in low relief by Alexander Carrick adorns the monument to the Royal Artillery. It shows men manning an eight-inch howitzer.
On the west wall the monument to the Royal Engineers is also adorned with a relief by Carrick. In a compact square design, with great skill and clarity he includes a scene of bridge building, a man seated sending a telegraph message, even a bicycle. Both these reliefs are remarkable for the way in which strength and simplicity of design are combined with detailed observation.


Above this the monument to the Scottish Yeomanry is a stand of arms in painted stone relief by Pilkington Jackson, truly remarkable for its detailed and accurate representation of the weapons used in the war.

The window here represents the machinery of war, and so also provides the third of the trio of elements: land, sea and air.

On the inner wall between the arches, designed by Meredith Williams and beautifully executed by his wife, Alice, a bronze relief of a single soldier represents the four Scottish Regiments raised outside Scotland, the London, the Liverpool, the Tyneside and the South African Scottish. Dressed in his kilt, his head bowed, helmet in hand and arms reversed, the soldier stands beside a humble temporary grave, a cross of sticks with the inscription "Known unto God". Beneath the panel an inscription in Gaelic translates "My Country, My Honour, My God".

At the head of this wall, above the arches are the medallions with the heads of animals in high relief by Phillis Bone. The presence of these animals is a clear statement of the intention that the memorial should be inclusive. It is not a thing apart but, as the war did, it involves the whole community, even the humble animals. The inscription reads, "Remember also the humble beasts".