In 1862, Queen Victoria commissioned a memorial cairn on the top of Craig an Lurachain on the Balmoral estate to the memory of her husband Prince Albert. The queen dedicated the cairn from ‘his broken hearted widow’. It stands at a height of 35 feet and so, as Victoria wrote in her journal, ‘it could be seen all down the valley’.

The Free West Church was built in 1869 in the Victorian Gothic style. It stands at the intersection of Bon Accord and Union Street in Aberdeen. Built of granite, the church was designed by James Matthews (1819–98) who became Lord Provost of Aberdeen in 1883. It is not known why Wilson photographed a painting of this church.