Memorial

Column 1914-18 Cathedral grounds

Durham City

Memorial Name: Column 1914-18 Cathedral grounds (D47.003)

NEWMP Ref No.: D47.003

Parish: Durham City

Original Location:

Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, Palace Green.

Outside the east front.

Which War:

1914-18

Dedication, Creation or Publication date:

Unveiled 12 noon Saturday 24th November 1928 by the Lord Lieutenant, the Marquess of Londonderry.

Materials Used:

Stone

Sculptor, Artist or Designer:

Designed by Prof. (later Sir Charles) C.H. Reilly of Liverpool University;
made by Mr. H. Tyson Smith, sculptor of Liverpool;
memorial erected by Frank W. Goodyear & Son from Gilesgate.

Inscription:

1914-18

Memorial Description:

Column in Norman style.

It is carved with modern artefacts such as helmets, water bottles, Mills bombs and rifle grenades etc. and also with local symbols.

On the top is an object in three dimensions described as “an elaboration of the Cross of St. Cuthbert”.

The column stands on an octagonal base.

This in turn stands on a square plinth which has the dates “1914-1918” incised in Roman lettering.

Names:

None

Notes:

1. In 1956 the original walls with metal railings and steps up to the column were removed and the area grassed over.

2. This memorial took ten years to put up, a decade marked by controversy about where to put it, what it should look like, who would pay for it, or even whether to have one at all. One objector wrote “Durham City is already smothered with memorials”.

3. “The Durham County War Memorial . . . stands within the precincts of the cathedral, immediately before the east end. It has been designed as a stout column of Norman type to harmonize with the Norman columns of the nave. A memorial of slighter proportions would have been out of scale with the buttresses near it”.

External Links:

Historic England Listing

Sources:

Photos: Simon Raine; John and Mavis Dixon; James Pasby

Durham County Advertiser
22/11/1928

Architects’ Journal
25/12/1929

Durham County Council
Ref: 505/4/8/260

Durham Michael F. Richardson page 37

Durham: The People and the Place Michael F. Richardson ISBN 1 870268 19 9 (In Clayport Library) contains photos of the Unveiling Parade and ceremony.

Friends of Durham Cathedral
24th Annual Report 1956-7