Stunning Angus scenery which a century ago captivated Antarctic explorers Captain Robert Scott and Edward Wilson ahead of their fateful Terra Nova expedition is to be the setting for a new monument to the intrepid pair.
As the centenary of the doomed voyage that would claim the lives of the ship’s crew on their return from the South Pole nears, community leaders have secured funding for a granite sculpture to honour the achievements of the pioneers and their unbreakable bond with each other and the beauty of Glen Prosen, north of Kirriemuir.
Also entwined into the remarkable story is Peter Pan creator Sir J.M. Barrie, a visitor to the Burnside cottage in the foothills of the glens, where the daring voyage in the race to the pole against Norwegian rival Roald Amundsen was painstakingly planned.
It was in the old estate cottage that naturalist Wilson was joined by Captain Scott and eventually persuaded to become part of the team. The well-documented Angus link was first marked in 1919 but, with the centenary looming, community leaders last summer set about creating a striking new memorial and have now unveiled the ambitious plan as part of a wider commemoration programme.
Kirriemuir Landward East led the campaign, with chairman Ivan Laird heading the action group which has driven forward the sculpture plan.
Mr Laird said: ”Edward Wilson was chief scientist, surgeon and artist on the expedition and died with Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his colleagues on the return from the Pole in late March 1912.
“Prior to the expedition, Wilson, was employed by the government to conduct a study into grouse and in order to help him his publisher, Reginald Smith, offered the use of Burnside Lodge.
”Wilson spent many months based in the lodge conducting his studies and was joined on a number of occasions by Captain Scott and, according to some sources, J.M. Barrie, a native of nearby Kirriemuir.”
Part of Scott and Wilson’s time at Burnside Lodge was spent going over the finer details of the expedition and testing some of the equipment.
Mr Laird added: ”Following the tragedy which befell the polar party and the later death of Reginald Smith, his widow funded the erection of a memorial fountain in 1919, at a point in Glen Prosen known locally as Scott’s View due to the adventurer’s admiration of the scenery there.”
The fountain inscription read: ”Given into the care of the people of Cortachy for them to hold in remembrance. Robert Falcon Scott and Edward Adrian Wilson who knew this glen: they reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912 and died together on the Great Ice Barrier March 1912. For the journey is done and the summit attained and the barriers fall.”
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Destroyed in a car accident in 1979, the fountain was replaced by a memorial cairn in 1981. Now badly weathered and with inscriptions difficult to read, the condition of the cairn set the local group on a course to ensure the Angus connection is marked for future generations.
Mr Laird added: ”The community council has gained support and assistance from a number of local groups including Kirriemuir Heritage Trust, Dundee Heritage Trust, Angus Council and the primary schools at Cortachy and Tannadice, local residents including the current owner of Burnside Lodge and the Earl of Airlie.”
Local stonemason and engraver Bruce Walker will carve the granite monument, which will stand ten feet tall and weigh 40 tonnes.
”We understand this will be the only sculpture anywhere in the world that includes both Scott and Wilson, and will use techniques unseen in the UK since the 1920s,” Mr Laird said.
It will be some months before the monument is complete but the commemoration programme will also see open days at Burnside Lodge from March 28 to March 31, coinciding with a community event featuring a showing of Herbert Ponting’s archive film from the expedition. Other plans include a series of talks on the expedition by renowned experts in Glen Prosen Hall and a production of Mythmakers, by the Celtic Circle theatre group, a play exploring the relationship between Captain Scott and Sir J.M. Barrie.
Mr Laird said: ”Not only will this monument become an additional attraction for the local area, the series of projects will leave a legacy for residents and the school children in particular.”