War memorials at road junctions

[Clive Maier]

The memorial at Orpington features an unusual three-sided obelisk bearing the names of the fallen. It was erected in 1921 at the junction of three roads and the designer’s plan was that one side should face each of the three thoroughfares. The concept was undone when a fourth road was driven through to the junction in 1926. Today hardly anyone is aware of the disparity, perhaps because it is all but impossible to approach the memorial. It is now the still centre of a whirlpool of traffic. You certainly need a stiff tot of rum before breasting the railings and making a mad yelling dash for the objective on panic-loosened legs. There is a good chance you will be mown down in the attempt.

Many memorials were sited at road junctions. These were perfectly good locations. The junctions were focal points for the community and the land was already in public ownership. In 1919 and 1920, the planners could not possibly have foreseen the volume and speed of road traffic that we have today. The situation is not too bad when the memorial stands beside a road junction. All it has to contend with there are corrosive atmospheres, grit and grime, eddies of waste paper and the detritus of fast feeding. But all too often, what was a simple junction has become a roundabout and the memorial is marooned, a deserted island in a vehicle-infested sea. That is the case at Orpington and I would be interested to hear of other memorials that have become no-go zones.

Incidentally, the memorial carries the legend “PRO PATRIA MORI”. I was surprised to see it because this is part of the phrase excoriated as “The old lie” by Wilfred Owen in Dulce et decorum est. The answer is that he wrote the poem in the last year of his life but it was not published until 1921, too late to discredit the words for most memorials. In any case, it is not clear whether Owen’s work would have had that immediate effect. Maybe most people would have retained the original sense intended without irony by Horace.

Pals probably know about this already but while I was thinking about Dulce et decorum est I found a wonderful Owen resource at Oxford University where you can see early drafts of many of his poems in his own hand. If you have not seen it, don’t miss the Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive.

[gem22]

Clive

It is a shame to see a war memorial marooned on a traffic island in the way Orpington's is; but look on the bright side. How often does it get vandalised? Ever?

Unlike the Cambridge war memorial that was attacked by animal rights activists last November 10 and had stencilled monkeys spray painted on it.

What was it someone said in an earlier thread - 'if I could get my hands on the little ********'.

Garth

[Guest Pete Wood]

Thanks for that link, Clive. There's a lot more to this site than meets the eye.

I just spent a pleasant five minutes reading the February 1916 issue of 'Poison Gas' magazine, The unofficial 'Organ of 3rd Battalion Queen Victoria's Rifles' who were stationed in Fovant, near Salisbury at the time.

Do have a look at the right hand page of Poison Gas to get a feel for a war time battalion magazine

[burlington]

RT

Are these archived somewhere?

What you have given me is like giving a thirsty man just a drop of water

Martin

[Clive Maier]

... It is a shame to see a war memorial marooned on a traffic island in the way Orpington's is; but look on the bright side. How often does it get vandalised? Ever? ...

Garth,

You are right. It does not get vandalised. You would have to be a Kamikaze vandal even to contemplate it, and there are few of those - almost by definition.

Any other examples of no-go memorials anyone?