| 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. |