War and Memorial
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The Great War – Memorials
One of the most dramatic of all First World War monuments is in France. It is a red Welsh dragon clutching a strand of barbed wire looking towards Mametz Wood. It commemorates the 38th (Welsh) Division of the Royal Welch Fusiliers and their successful battle to capture a strategically crucial site in 1916. The cost was very high – the Division lost nearly 4,000 men, for many of whom it was their first experience of battle.
All the communities of Wales were deeply affected by the Great War, not only through the heavy loss of life suffered, for example, at Mwrog Street, Ruthin one man per 2.9 houses never returned; but also through the impact of the loss of Welsh language speakers; it is estimated that around 20, 000 first language Welsh speakers died. The Trawsfynydd poet, Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known by his Bardic name, Hedd Wyn, was also a Royal Welch Fusilier in the First World War. He died before learning that he had won the chair in the 1917 National Eisteddfod. Another chair winning poet, R. Williams Parry, wrote a remembrance poem to Hedd Wyn entitled: 'Englynion coffa Hedd Wyn', and the following well known englyn for the war memorial at Penygroes, Gwynedd:
O Gofadail gofidiau - tad a mam!
Tydi mwy drwy'r oesau
Ddysgi ffordd i ddwys goffau
Y rhwyg o golli'r hogiau
These poems express the experience felt by most families in Wales on the loss of their loved ones, and after the war remembering the dead became part of the healing process. War memorials were erected in every community, in most cases, situated at the centre of the community and acting as a focal point and meeting place thus keeping the memory of ‘Those who Fell’ alive.
The memorials erected in Wales after the Great War ranged from free-standing monuments and sculptural masterpieces to simple plaques in chapels, churches, schools, post offices and banks. Collectively, these are by far the largest body of public memorials in Wales, with examples in all communities. In addition, there are war memorial halls in villages and suburbs across Wales, recognisable by the Welsh words emblazoned prominently on their facades: ‘Neuadd Goffa’.
‘Dai Greatcoat’ and a nude figure of peace
Many memorials took a sculptural form and listed the names of those who had fallen. The memorial cross — often Celtic in form — was frequently favoured, especially in smaller communities, but there are surprising numbers of expensive figurative sculptures. Many rural communities commissioned monuments with a cast or sculpted soldier in mourning leaning on his rifle butt: the ‘Tommy’ stood for all those who had served in the Great War and depictions of other servicemen (like the sailor at Holyhead) are rare. Soldiers at Lampeter, Carmarthen and Llandaff gaze into the distance, but the carved relief of a soldier at Chirk is very different; surely he represents the stoical ‘Dai Greatcoat’. Allegorical representations of peace are rarer still, and the nude figure of peace (above) at Aberystwyth emerging from the thickets of war has been admired by generations, not necessarily with commemoration on their minds.
Later Conflicts
The Second World War saw about half the number of lost servicemen and women and did not lead to many new memorials, but the names of the fallen of each community were added poignantly to the lists already inscribed on the Great War monuments,and those lost in later conflicts have been subsequently added.
For details of the Welsh memorials see the United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials: http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/ . Grants may be available for war memorials from the War Memorials Trust: http://www.warmemorials.org/. The trust can also advise on appropriate conservation methods. For information on the Royal Welsh Fusiliers visit the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum; online: http://www.rwfmuseum.org.uk/ or at Caernarfon Castle.
For War memorials in Flintshire see:
http://www.northopwm.com
www.flintshirewarmemorials.com