Memorial restoration work gets under way

June 29, 2015 at 9:36 am

Kitchener's Memorial on Marwick Head, Birsay. — Kitchener’s Memorial on Marwick Head, Birsay.

Work to restore Orkney’s Kitchener Memorial, ahead of centenary commemorations next year, is due to begin this week.

Visitors to Marwick Head will see scaffolding on the memorial as work begins to restore the stonework to its original condition, inspect and repair the roof, reinstate the ventilation and restore the inspection doorway.

The Kitchener Memorial, a 48-feet high stone tower, was unveiled in 1926 to commemorate Earl Kitchener, Britain’s Secretary of State for War, who was lost when HMS Hampshire sank off Birsay on June 5, 1916.