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TheSheffield War Memorial also known asSheffield Cenotaph, is aGrade II* listed[1] war memorial located atBarker's Pool,Sheffield, standing to the south ofSheffield City Hall, which is also Grade II* listed.
There was much debate about the appropriate location and format for a war memorial in Sheffield after the First World War. A committee considered fourteen serious suggestions, including an obelisk at the junction of Bow Street and Church Street. Eventually a decision was made for a memorial to be constructed in Barker's Pool, with the demolition of shops to the north of Barker's Pool to create a suitable location. A design competition was opened to architects working in Sheffield, which was won byCharles Denny Carus-Wilson, then head of the School of Architecture at theUniversity of Sheffield. He had served with theMiddlesex Yeomanry and was awarded theMilitary Cross; the memorial was his first significant public project. The £5,435 cost of the memorial was raised from public donations.
The memorial is made up of a cenotaph with a 25 metres (82 ft) high flagpole.[2] The central flagpole is a ship's mast, made ofmild steel byEarle's Shipbuilding of Hull. It is painted white, and topped by a gilded ball and crown.
The pole is supported by a 5.3-metre-high (17 ft) bronze base by sculptor George Alexander, cast by the Parlanti foundry. It includes four statues of soldiers, standing with heads bowed and rifles reversed, above an octagonal section. The base also shows four emblems – theBritish Army, theRoyal Navy, theRoyal Air Force, and the coat of arms of the city of Sheffield – facing the cardinal directions, and also the badges of the eight army units: theQueen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons, theRoyal Artillery, theRoyal Engineers, theMachine Gun Corps, theTank Corps, theYork and Lancaster Regiment, theRoyal Army Medical Corps, and theRoyal Army Service Corps. The bronze base stands on an octagonal plinth of DerbyshireHopton Wood stone, surrounded by circular paving to form a traffic island. The original design featured four female figures between the male figures, but they were left out to reduce the cost.
The memorial was unveiled on 28 October 1925 by General SirCharles Harington, GOCNorthern Command, and it was dedicated by theBishop of SheffieldLeonard Burrows. The memorial suffered shrapnel damage from bombing in the Second World War, which was left unrepaired. Further dates were added around the plinth after the Second World War. It became alisted building in 1983, upgraded to Grade II* in 2016.
The memorial was restored after Barkers Pool was closed to traffic in 1989. Further restoration work took place in 2005, and the flag raising mechanism was replaced.[citation needed]
In October 2009, a drunkenSheffield Hallam University student was photographed urinating on the memorial, during a night of heavy drinking organised for students byCarnage UK. The photograph was published by theDaily Mail's website, generating widespread public anger, and the student identified as 19-year old Philip Laing ofMacclesfield,Cheshire. He was subsequently charged by police, and admitted to outraging public decency. Laing had been warned of the possibility of a jail sentence; however, in court, a judge sentenced him to 250 hours'community service. He was also ordered to pay costs of £185.[3]
Other war memorials in central Sheffield include a War Memorial Hall which opened at Sheffield City Hall in 1932 with aRoll of honour recording 5,000 names, and theYork and Lancaster Regiment War Memorial inWeston Park.
TheSheffield City Battalion Memorial, commemorating theSheffield Pals of the 12th Service Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, is located inSerre-lès-Puisieux in the FrenchPas-de-Calais, betweenAlbert, in the Somme, andArras.
53°22′49″N1°28′20″W / 53.38034°N 1.47220°W /53.38034; -1.47220