War Memorial

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A Portland stone memorial by Vernon March also associated to sibling, Sydney March commemorating the two World Wars.

Originally dating from 1926 and erected in 1927 the text was altered following the end of the Second World War.

The memorial occupies a central position in the Diamond and is surrounded by a low steel railing on plinth wall of square form with quadrant plan form shape to corners. The memorial is 20 feet in height and consists of a central cenotaph, with a Portland stone obelisk crowned by a bronze statue of a winged figure that symbolises Victory, and side plinths, on which stands the bronze statues of a soldier and sailor; at the base of the central cenotaph, four bronze panels are engraved with the 756 names of the local war dead.

Located on a stepped stone plinth it is flanked by two bronze figures on smaller Portland stone obelisks, in the centre of the Diamond (behind modern plinth wall and railings) facing north towards Shipquay Street and the River Foyle beyond. Victory is holding a sword pointing downward (representing victory in war) in one hand, and the other hand pointing high holding a laurel wreath (representing victory in peace).

Bronze lettering to north reads “TO OUR HONOURED DEAD AND THOSE WHO SERVED 1914 – 1918 1939 – 1945. The two statues either side depict a soldier and a sailor, representing the army and the navy.

Setting:
Centrepiece of The Diamond and the City Wall enclosure beyond, the War Memorial is surrounded by a low steel railing on plinth wall and overlooked by buildings on all sides.

Historical information

The War Memorial in The Diamond, a neo-classical cenotaph dedicated to those from Londonderry who lost their lives in both the First and Second World Wars, was erected in 1927 to a design by Vernon March. The memorial is the dominant feature of The Diamond, the square which has formed the axis of Londonderry since the laying out of the walls and street pattern of the city in 1614-18. The Diamond was first depicted on Pynnar’s plan of the city in 1619 and was captioned as the ‘Market Place’ on Thomas Raven’s 1622 map. By 1625 a market house had been constructed in The Diamond, however this was destroyed during the Siege of Derry (1688-89); in 1692 a second market house was built on the site, the mannerist design of the building was by Francis Nevill, a civil engineer. The second market house also housed assembly rooms and was utilised by the Corporation until 1823-26 when the market house was almost completely rebuilt at a cost of £5,500 and became Londonderry’s first purpose built Town Hall.

Despite the construction of The Guildhall in 1887-89 (see HB01/19/038), which became the new home of Londonderry Corporation, the former Town Hall continued to stand in The Diamond until the Edwardian period. In 1903 embers from the fire at Austin’s department store (see HB01/19/019) spread to the hall which was badly damaged in the ensuing blaze; the hall was repaired but due to its redundancy it was subsequently demolished in 1910. The Honourable The Irish Society converted the former site of the Corporation Hall into a public square and gardens, however, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society records that the original basement cellars of the hall were retained and covered over by pavement (UAHS, p. 22). Photographs and postcards from the period show that the Edwardian public square occupied the same space currently used by the War Memorial; the square consisted of four corner flower beds with a fifth display occupying the centre.

With the ending of the First World War, Londonderry Corporation met in 1919 to implement a fund aimed at commemorating the local men and women who had died during the conflict. At that meeting the Diamond was identified as the location for such a monument, however, due to the outbreak of the War of Independence and the fierce fighting in Ulster during the Irish Civil War, further progress on the matter was not made until 1923 when it was confirmed that the memorial would be built at the Diamond. The delay resulted in public agitation in the local press; in 1924 the Londonderry Sentinel published a letter which read: ‘I feel greatly grieved to see [Derry] so far behind as regards our long-talked-of war memorial. Other cities have their memorials, and what is delaying Derry’s memorial.’ A War Memorial Committee was subsequently appointed to compile the names to be included upon the memorial and to select an appropriate design for the edifice and in April 1925 the design by Sidney and Vincent March was selected (Diamond War Memorial Project).

However, there were to be further delays as the construction of the War Memorial in the Diamond necessitated the removal of the statue of Sir Robert Ferguson. The monument to Ferguson, M.P. for Londonderry between 1831 and 1860 and known locally as ‘the Black Man,’ was located at the top of Shipquay Street in 1925; due to indecision the Corporation did not agree to relocate the statue until 1927 (the statue is currently located at the entrance to Brooke Park). With the agreement to remove the statue, the last obstacle to building the war memorial was lifted and construction work commenced almost immediately.

The war memorial, the design of which has been mainly attributed to Vernon March (d. 1930), an English sculptor from Kent, was executed in Portland stone incorporating bronze statues and panels. The cost for constructing the war memorial was estimated at £5,000. The opening ceremony for the memorial took place on 23rd June 1927; the Londonderry Sentinel recorded that the memorial was unveiled by Major-General F.F. Ready, the Commanding Officer for Northern Ireland, the War Memorial Committee presided over the ceremony which was attended by relatives of the war dead, ex-servicemen and the city’s clergy and public institutions. Before unveiling the memorial Major-General Ready stated that it would ‘stand for all time to remind those that come hereafter that, should ever the just cause again arise, the men of this city will come forward as fearlessly as they have done in the past, to add another page to the splendid history of this great city’ (Londonderry Sentinel).

The original text at the base of the central cenotaph read ‘TO OUR / HONOURED DEAD / AND / THOSE WHO SERVED / 1914 – 1918,’ however following the end of the Second World War the additional text ‘1939 – 1945’ was added. The war memorial has been used as the venue and focus of Remembrance Day services in Londonderry since 1927. Calley notes that when originally built the memorial ‘initially altered the garden design very little [and] simply replaced the centre circular bed of the former garden,’ however ‘the flower beds and the fine iron railings are long gone and the plinths now sit in a mass of concrete’ (Calley, pp 159-160).

The war memorial was listed in 1979. During the Northern Ireland Troubles the war memorial was frequently targeted by vandals and was subject to sectarian attacks; as a result the gates to the memorial were closed to the public except at Remembrance services. In recent years the Diamond War Memorial Project conducted research into the men and women who fought and died during the First World War revealing that half of the names on the memorial belonged to the city’s nationalist community. The gates to the memorial were reopened to the public in 2007 as a result of this finding, the Diamond War Memorial Project noting that the memorial ‘belongs to all the people of the city and that we have a shared history’ (Derry Journal).

References

Primary Sources
1. Pynnar’s plan of Londonderry (1619)
2. Thomas Raven’s plans of Londonderry (1622; 1625)
3. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
4. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
5. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/15 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
6. Londonderry Sentinel (11 Nov 1924; 23 Jun 1927)
7. First Survey Record – HB01/19/021 (1970)
8. First Survey Image – HB01/19/021 (No Date)
9. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/021
10. The Derry Journal (23 Oct 2007)

Secondary Sources
1. ‘The Unknown City’ Derry: The Foyle Civic Trust (2003).
2. Byrne, A; McMahon, S., ‘Derry in old photographs’ Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2003.
3. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
4. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.
5. Fox, Colm., ‘The making of a minority: Political developments in Derry and the North 1912-25’ Derry: Guildhall Press, 1997.
6. Lacey, B., ‘Discover Derry’ Londonderry: The Guildhall Press, 2011.
7. Ó Baoill, R., ‘Island city: The archaeology of Derry – Londonderry’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 2013.
8. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Diamond War Memorial Project website - http://www.diamondwarmemorial.com/pages/history

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Centrepiece of The Diamond and the City Wall enclosure beyond, the War Memorial is surrounded by a low steel railing on plinth wall and overlooked by buildings on all sides. A Portland stone and bronze war memorial designed by siblings Sydney and Vernon March, commemorating local people who lost their lives during two World Wars and dating from 1927. The sculpture depicts a winged Victory statue flanked by a soldier and a sailor, with four bronze plaques depicting the names of the fallen dead. The memorial is of high artistic merit, is a good example of the type, and is of significant historic and social interest for the local community.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R - Age, S - Authenticity & T - Historic Importance