72nd Highlanders Memorial, Edinburgh Castle Esplanade is a Grade C listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 15 October 2001. Monument.
72nd Highlanders Memorial, Edinburgh Castle Esplanade
- WRENN ID
- ancient-loggia-wren
- Grade
- C
- Local Planning Authority
- City of Edinburgh
- Constituency
- Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 15 October 2001
- Type
- Monument
- OS grid reference
- NT 252 735
- Coordinates
- 55.94884, -3.19816
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The 72nd Highlanders Memorial, located on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle, commemorates the soldiers of the 72nd Highlanders who lost their lives in Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878 to 1880. Designed by MacDonald, Field and Company, the monument was constructed between 1882 and 1883. It features a polished pink Peterhead granite obelisk topped with a bronze coronet displaying the number 72. The obelisk is set on a pedestal that is inscribed with the names of the fallen soldiers.
In addition to these names, the base of the monument includes two inscriptions. One reads: "IN MEMORY OF / THE OFFICERS / NON COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND MEN / OF THE 72ND DUKE OF ALBANY'S OWN HIGHLANDERS / WHO WERE KILLED IN ACTION OR DIED OF WOUNDS OR DISEASE / DURING THE CAMPAIGNS IN AFGHANISTAN / IN 1878 - 79 – 80." The other inscription states: "ERECTED BY / THE OFFICERS AND MEN NOW SERVING / AND WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE REGIMENT."
Local climate
72nd Highlanders Memorial, Edinburgh Castle Esplanade sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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