What is a war memorial?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a memorial, is “a sign of remembrance; preserving or intended to preserve the memory of a person or thing”. One can also say that it acts as an object “reuniting those who were separated by a conflict”. The Inventory has adopted this meaning when it considers what a war memorial is.

The Inventory was established as an art history project but it soon became obvious that any complete definition would have to be far broader than just figurative sculpture crosses, obelisks or columns. So, we also record:-

• Plaques, tablets and boards inside churches, schools, businesses and other buildings
• Utilitarian memorials including parks, gardens, halls, hospitals, bus shelters, endowed beds in hospitals and even an island.
• Church fabric or fittings like bells, pews, lecterns, lighting, altars, reredos, candlesticks etc.
• Trophies or relics like preserved guns or wreckage marking aircraft crash sites.
• Other memorials e.g. stuffed animals, bird baths, paintings and prints, sundials, shrines, tapestries and trees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus, any object can be considered a war memorial as long as the inscription and/or purpose behind its erection or placement links it to a war or war casualty in some way or another. This leads one to the next section of who can be commemorated.