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The memorial takes the form of an exedra, with a semi-circular screen enclosing a sunken area. Attached to the inside of the screen are slightly curved bronze plaques bearing the names of around 4,500 soldiers. At either end, the screen is a rusticated niche with flanking rusticated piers, and within each niche is a bronze-painted urn above a stone seat. Above, set within the broken entablature, is a carved trophy consisting of clustered weapons above a shield flanked by oak and laurel branches, surrounded by scrolled acanthus, and the whole is topped by a crown. At the centre of the memorial, three stone steps surround the cenotaph pier, which has relief carving of wartime scenes on land and at sea on each side, including marching soldiers, and a naval gun crew in action.
Title
Cenotaph
Date
1921
Medium
Portland stone ashlar
Accession number
PO1_MP_S027
Acquisition method
erected by public subscription
Work type
War memorial
Owner
Portsmouth City Council
Custodian
Portsmouth City Council
Work status
extant
Listing status
Grade II* (England and Wales)
Unveiling date
25th May 1921
Listing date
25/09/72
Access
at all times
Inscription description
plaque: THIS WAR MEMORIAL WAS UNVEILED BY / FIELD -MARSHALL HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS / THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT K.G / ON 19TH OCTOBER 1921; in the architrave above the plaques: ‘THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE’; plaque on cenotaph: ‘THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF PORTSMOUTH IN PROUD AND LOVING MEMORY OF THOSE WHO IN THE GLORIOUS MORNING OF THEIR DAYS FOR ENGLAND’S SAKE LOST ALL BUT ENGLAND’S PRAISE. MAY LIGHT PERPETUAL SHINE UPON THEM; stone tablet on north plinth, added 2003: 'TO HONOUR ALL THOSE WHO DIED / SERVING THEIR COUNTRY IN / TIMES OF PEACE OR CONFLICT / ‘WE WILL REMEMBER’’; plaque: THIS STONE WAS LAID BY / THE MAYORESS / MRS JOHN TIMPSON / ON THE 25TH MAY 1921 / SAML.SALTER BUILDER / J. S. GIBSON & W. S. A. GORDON ARCHITECTS