Blitz Memorial

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Freestanding dressed granite memorial and associated mass burial plot in Belfast City Cemetery. Constructed from cut Mourne granite, comprising a two-stage plinth, on top of which is mounted a single block of granite with angled upper section, the centre of which is polished and engraved; ‘In sad remembrance of 123 citizens of Belfast. Men women and children killed in an air raid by German bombers on the night of Easter Tuesday April 15th 1941 and whom no one was at that time able to identify. And 31 such so killed on May 4th 1941 they are buried in this plot. “Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” “We sorrow not, even as others which have no more.”’ The paved perimeter of the memorial is edged in recent granite sets and lined with matching strips to the outer edges. The four corners of the rectangular burial plot are marked with dressed square plan granite corner stones, abutted by chamfered granite plinth walls.

Setting
Located in the western section of Belfast City Cemetery, which is sited on the western side of the Falls Road in Belfast. The memorial is centrally placed at the front of the mass grave plot, which is bordered by recent low-level hedge box fencing and accessed to the north and south via a recent bitmac path.

Materials
Walls : granite

Historical information

The Blitz Memorial in Belfast City Cemetery (HB26/25/001A) is a mass grave containing the remains of 154 unidentified civilians. Belfast was subjected to three major air raids by the Luftwaffe in April and May 1941 and due to a lack of anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons and insufficient air-raid shelters the casualties were high. Approximately 900 people died as a result of the aerial bombings and buildings such as St George’s Market and the Falls Road swimming baths were used as temporary mortuaries, allowing for the identification of the dead. Those bodies which could not be identified were buried in mass graves; those bearing an indication of the Catholic faith (such as a medal, rosary or cloth scapular) were buried in the mass grave at Milltown Cemetery, which was marked by a polished red granite memorial (HB26/22/002D). The remaining 154 were interred here at the mass grave in the City Cemetery. After having fallen into a state of disrepair, the memorial and grave site underwent a £30,000 refurbishment in 2013 to mark the 72nd Anniversary of the Blitz, and the work included; repaving the memorial perimeter in granite, levelling of the surrounding ground, the re-engraving of the inscription and the addition of hedge box fencing to replicate the original design.

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/60/3 - Third edition OS map (1901)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 - Fourth edition OS map (1920)
3. HB File (HB/26/25/001M)

Secondary Sources
1. Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (Belfast, 1987)
2. Robert Scott, A Breath of Fresh Air: The Story of Belfast’s Parks (Belfast, 2000)
3. Tom Hartley, Written in Stone: The History of Belfast City Cemetery (Belfast, 2006)

Online Sources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects: (www.dia.ie)
2. Potter, John ‘The Belfast Blitz’ NI War Memorial Home Front Exhibition (http://www.niwarmemorial.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The_Belfast_Blitz.pdf)
3. Belfast City Council (http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-6577.aspx)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A plain, Mourne granite block on a plinth, the Blitz Memorial marks the mass grave of 154 unidentified civilians who died as a consequence of the aerial bombing campaign, known as the 'Belfast Blitz', in April and May 1941. A testament to the appalling impact of the Second World War on the local population, and of considerable social significance, the design of the memorial itself does not meet the statutory test for listing.