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Southampton Cenotaph

Southampton Cenotaph

Edwin Lutyens

Photo: AlanFord at English Wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Watts Park, Above Bar Street, Southampton, England
Client / Owner
Southampton War Memorial Committee
Year
Completed 1920
Access
Public
Typology
Cultural

The Southampton Cenotaph stands in Watts Park, beside Above Bar Street in Southampton. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed it, and it was unveiled on November 6, 1920. A committee headed by Lord Mayor Sidney Kimber was the client, and the memorial was handed to the town council at the unveiling. It cost £9,845.

The design is Classical but streamlined, abstract and ecumenical. A tapering, five-tiered pylon rises from five stone steps and carries a sarcophagus topped by a recumbent soldier. The pylon has entasis, a slight curve modeled on the Parthenon's columns. Thin sheets of white Portland stone cover a brick core, and Holloway Brothers built it.

Lions, wreaths for the services and Southampton's coat of arms decorate the tiers, and the committee insisted on a cross. Historic England upgraded it to Grade I in 2015. Glass memorial walls by Martin Donlin were added in 2011, because stone deterioration meant the names would not be recut.

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