Colinton Column plaque, Redford Road, Edinburgh

The Colinton Column is a monument located on Redford Road in Edinburgh, near the entrance to the Dreghorn Barrack complex. Constructed from ashlar sandstone, it features a cluster of four engaged Roman Ionic columns set on a five-stepped octagonal plinth. At the top of the pillar is an Ionic entablature with a pulvinated frieze, above which are four engraved panels. The monument is crowned with a pyramidal cap that includes a weathervane. Next to the column is an engraved stone slab with an inscription in English and Latin.

This monument was erected by Robert Andrew Macfie around 1886, using materials salvaged from the Royal Infirmary building designed by William Adam, which was demolished earlier that year. The reused components include the columns, capitals, the weathervane, and the entablature. The engraved panels near the top of the pillar commemorate four historical military campaigns that passed through the area: the Romans, Cromwell in 1650, the Covenanters in 1666, and Charles in 1745. The inscription on the adjacent stone plaque features a poem in English written by Macfie, along with a short dedication in Latin to General Charles Gordon of Khartoum, who died in 1885.