This is an extraordinary book, with its origin in the author's long-standing interest in monuments and memorials, arising from many years of wandering Scotland's hills and glens. The Covid-19 lockdown provided an opportunity to look into this more seriously, and the idea of a book was born.It reflects and encapsulates a huge variety of monuments in every style imaginable - pillars, towers, obelisks, mausoleums, cairns and many more curious shapes. Everything from much-loved dogs and horses to seemingly obscure members of the aristocracy (the biggest monuments of all) have been commemorated and sculptors, artists and designers have let their imagination run free resulting in a glorious collection of places to visit. Some apparent memorials - known as follies - were designed solely to provide a focus for the eye and we are blessed with a substantial number of these eccentricities.Grouped into 20 categories, the book includes writers, royalty and inventors and objects such as mausoleums, follies, the military and political figures and events. Battles (famous and less well-known), mountains, animals (even a pigeon) and the millennium all feature but throughout the book, the monuments and memorials are placed in proper context, which is important in understanding their timing and location. There is a section devoted to mishaps at sea and this includes some of the most beautiful and poignant memorials of all.

For a small country we have an astonishing number of very fine fountains. Some of these were erected to mark Queen Victoria's Golden and Diamond Jubilees, and we find in Victoria a notable supporter of monuments. With the aid of this book readers will be able to anticipate the joy of discovering a monument and unearthing the reason for its creation.