On Sunday 5th July 2020 I climbed Craig Gibbon to the obelisk on top.
[To play my short film on Mercer’s obelisk please click here or on the image above]
This obelisk was erected by Colonel William Mercer of Aldie and Meikleour. In his time it was painted white and was there as a visual marker of his Tullybeagles estate.
Colonel William Mercer died in 1790, on the same day – but different year – of my birth: 19th December.
William was fatherless from a young age. His father, Robert Nairn, was killed in the battle of Culloden. His death meant that the Aldie estate was saved from forfeiture. William then assumed his mother’s maiden name of Mercer. William is buried in the Mercer Vault in St John’s Kirk, Perth. In this Kirk Peter and Sian were married on the 10th July 1993.
Music credit: an acoustic cover of ‘Follow You, Follow Me’ by Danny McEvoy
