War memorials are a familiar site in the landscape of the United Kingdom. They provide insight into not only the changing face of commemoration but also military history, social history and art history. There are an estimated 54,000 war memorials throughout the UK in many differing forms, from the frequently-seen community crosses or plaques to buildings, lych gates, gardens, hospitals, organs, chapels and windows. The official launch of the UK National Inventory of War Memorials database was on November 8th at the Imperial War Museum marks the unique place that they have in our nation’s history and provides for the first time a UK wide database of these memorials commemorating all conflicts, not just those of the First and Second World War.
Many memorials are of a more usual nature, for example the often seen village cross or the figure of a serviceman. However, there have been many unusual memorials discovered in the course of fieldwork. These include the Island of Piel off the coast of Cumbria; Sammy, the regimental mascot of the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in France; a temporary memorial made of snow in Pateley Bridge, Northumberland; a gas lamp post in Bow, Greater London; a wooden polar bear, the memorial of the 49th Infantry Division at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.
Further details can be found on the Imperial War Museum web-site:
www.iwm.org.uk
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