Most of the families in mourning after the First World War had nowhere to take their grief.

In most cases the bodies of the dead soldiers were not repatriated and their relatives could not afford to visit their graves in France. The solution was the most extraordinary act of communal mourning and remembrance Britain has ever seen.

Almost every town and village in Britain took part in some way, raising the money needed for all kinds of memorials to the dead. Some were grand affairs - huge columns or statutes - while others were simpler: a plaque or a cairn. There were also memorial windows, bells, clocks, gardens or even entire buildings.

The architectural style also varied massively. The obelisk and mercat cross were common but the Isle of Lewis war memorial, for example, is much grander and is built in the style of a Scots baronial tower. Others were inspired by Celtic heritage but some were even simpler. The First World War memorial at Blair Atholl is simply an upright boulder.

Other communities commissioned notable artists and architects to design their monuments - men such as Sir Roger Lorimer, Alexander Carrick and William Birnie Rhind. One of the more unusual is BNH Orphoot's memorial in Peebles, which combines Renaissance influences with Moorish decorations.

In all, there are around 8,000 war memorials in Scotland, most of which went up in the years immediately after the First World War, although Allana Hughes, the War Memorials Trust's conservation officer in Scotland, says it is difficult to tell precisely how many there are because there is no central record.

"There was no real official log of which towns or villages put up memorials," says Ms Hughes. "Lots of communities made their own decisions about what was most appropriate to remember their dead. That's also why we see such a diverse range of memorials across Scotland."

In her work travelling around Scotland looking at the memorials, Ms Hughes has also observed they are not fixed and immovable: the way they are used and perceived has changed and is still changing. "Initially, because bodies were not repatriated, the families didn't have any graves to go to, they didn't have a place where they could go for reflection," she says. "It was somewhere they could go and pay their respects."

However, memorials are now much less about being a grave and more a reminder of war, an educational tool and a focus for remembrance.

The names and inscriptions on many war memorials are constantly evolving: they may have been erected for the First World War but many have had names added for the Second World War and continue to have new names added of those who have fallen in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Occasionally, there are attempts to have names of First World War combatants added, perhaps because it is felt they were unfairly left off.

Frances Morton, the director of the War Memorials Trust, which works for the protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK, says her organisation will support this if it is the right thing to do. "Often what happened is that someone went round the village with pencil and paper and wrote down the names, and if someone's family had moved, they might be missed off," she says.

"But sometimes families didn't want their names on a memorial: they might have still been listed as missing and putting their name on there would have felt like accepting their death. So there's a delicate balance between assuming they've been forgotten and respecting that their families might have chosen not to have their names there."

Ms Morton is also keen to encourage the use of memorials as an educational tool. "We have an educational programme and part of it is challenging the idea young people don't care. People can and will care but they can and will care differently."

She adds: "What we find is the best way into it is to find out the stories of the people on the memorial. The Government has set aside money to take schoolchildren to France and Belgium but actually there is probably a war memorial down the road they could use just as effectively."

Ms Morton also believes there are a few myths around war memorials that the centenary is helping to quash. The first myth is that many memorials are neglected: in fact, lots of people care for them and less than 10 per cent need repair and conservation. The second myth is that there is a vandalism problem - a perception fuelled by the rise in copper thefts during the recession. In reality, that too is a small problem.

"There was a peak in 2011 of theft," says Ms Morton, "but I think there were about 12 or 15 cases of vandalism or theft last year, so it is low and I think that's because there is generally a respect for them."

There are some memorials that need work, of course, and the War Memorials Trust is currently in the process of allocating the £1 million the Scottish Government set aside to spend on the conservation and repair of memorials. Around £160,000 has already been spent on 23 grants and the rest of the money will be allocated over the next four years.

What is even more encouraging is that, as well as the conservation of existing memorials, the act of remembrance goes on with the creation of new memorials. The Woodland Trust, for example, has recently announced plans to create four new woods in each part of the UK to mark the centenary (see page 23). Scotland's woods will be developed on 100 acres of land in the Pentland hills with 50,000 trees being planted as well as five acres of wildflowers, including poppies.

People will also be able to sponsor a tree in memory of a loved one who died in the First World War. It will be a memorial on a grand scale; it will also be remembrance of the dead with a living, breathing thing.