Location: |
The Tower Hill Memorial which commemorates men
of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who have no known grave, stands on
the south side of the garden of Trinity Square, London, close to The Tower
of London. The Memorial Register may be consulted at Trinity House
Corporation, Trinity Square (Cooper's Row entrance), Tel: 0171 480 6601,
which will be found behind the Memorial.
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Historical Information: |
TOWER HILL MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918 This memorial
stands on Tower Hill, London, on the south side of the pleasure garden of
Trinity Square. The Memorial consists of a vaulted corridor 21.5 metres
long, 7 metres wide and 7 to 10 metres high. It is open at each end. It
has three wide openings at the front and back, in which are placed pairs
of columns. It rises in the middle in rectangular blocks. It is built of
Portland stone finished with a circular treatment. The Names of the War
Dead are carried on bronze panels, covering the eight main masonry piers
which support the roof. They are arranged alphabetically under their ships
of the Merchant Service. 1939 - 1945 When the question arose of
commemorating the men of the Merchant Navy who lost their lives during the
1939-1945 War and have no known grave, it was the general desire that the
new Memorial should be combined with the existing 1914-1918 Tower Hill
Memorial to form a complete whole. The architect achieved this by
designing a semi-circular sunken garden adjoining the 1914-1918 Memorial;
in this way a sufficient wall area was obtained to record the total of
nearly 24,000 names, without building high walls on Tower Hill. The garden
is 2 metres below the general level of Tower Hill Gardens, so that the
surrounding walls rise only 1 metre above that level. From the 1914-18
Memorial, stone steps flanked by high stone pylons, on which are the
Merchant Navy badges and wreaths, lead down to the sunken garden. Between
the flights of steps is the main dedicatory inscription, which reads:
1939-1945 THE TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING FLEETS
WHOSE NAMES ARE HONOURED ON THE WALLS OF THIS GARDEN GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR
THEIR COUNTRY AND HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA This inscription is guarded by
sculptured figures in stone representing an officer and a seaman of the
Merchant Service. The internal face of the semi-circular wall surrounding
the garden is cased in bronze, which bears in relief the names of the men
commemorated. At regular intervals round this bronze casing are seven
stone sculptured allegorical figures representing the Seven Seas. The
garden itself is primarily a lawn, surrounded by a stone path on which
there are oak seats. In the centre is a "pool" of bronze, engraved as a
mariners' compass, and set to magnetic north. An Introductory Part of this
register, containing a plan of the Memorial and an index to the Panels,
together with a description of the work of the Mercantile Marine is also
available separatly for each World War. |