
Tower Hill Memorial, corridor
The 'Tower Hill Memorial' is a national
war memorial on the south side of Trinity Square Gardens, just to the north of the
Tower of London. It commemorates those from the
Merchant Navy and fishing fleets who died during both
world wars and have no known grave.
The
World War I memorial takes the form of a vaulted corridor, 21.5 metres long, 7 metres wide and 7 to 10 metres high. Inside are 12 bronze plaques engraved with 12,000 names. It was opened by
Queen Mary on
12 December 1928. The
World War II memorial takes the form of a semi-circular sunken garden located behind the corridor, to its north. It contains the names of 24,000
British seamen and 50
Australian seamen, listed on the walls of the sunken garden. In the center of the garden is a pool of bronze, engraved with a compass pointing north. The WWI memorial was designed by
Edwin Lutyens and the WWII memorial by
Edward Maufe.
Between the two memorials are two columns with statues representing an officer (western column) and a seaman (eastern). This was designed by
Charles Wheeler. The second part of the memorial was opened by
Queen Elizabeth II on
5 November 1955.
The main inscription, located in between the two columns, reads
:
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.
See also
★
The Unknown Warrior