Hugh McCulloch & Covenanter’s Monument

Hardies were appointed under our Framework arrangement with The City of Edinburgh Council to provide specialist advice for the conservation of the notable Hugh McCulloch & Covenanters’ Monuments that are located in the historic Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, Edinburgh. The three separate monuments were in a perilous condition in their perimeter wall location above Candlemaker Row, and had been shrouded and braced with scaffold over a period since 2017 to mitigate any risk of stone fall to the street below.

The mural monuments reflect renaissance architectural styles at the time of their construction with the oldest sections dating back to the late 17th Century. The scope of works embraced the conservation intention to consolidate and repair rather than fully restore. Stabilisation works involved deconstructing masonry where partially collapsed and carefully recording stones and their position for rebuilding the monuments, whilst replacing stone sections only where their condition dictated. With agreement from the client, new carved features and mouldings were re-introduced to preserve historic detail that was at risk of being lost, and the monuments were repointed in full with lime mortar following removal of inappropriate mortars from previous maintenance.

Due to Candlemaker Row being on the busy tourist route, it was agreed to scaffold the monuments to create a working platform from within the Kirkyard only; the sensitive environment of the site necessitated careful coordination with the client and the Church group to minimise risk and inconvenience to the many visitors of the Kirkyard. Hardies provided full contract administration and Principal Designer services including specifying and overseeing the works.