The northern edge of the Flag Market is dominated by Preston's
Cenotaph built to honour the dead of World War One, and unveiled in 1926 by the
English Admiral Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935).
A tribute to the dead from World War Two has also since been
included.
'Cenotaph' derives from two Greek words meaning "empty
tomb" indicating the monument is
honouring people whose remains are elsewhere.
The top of the monument is made to look like an empty coffin.
The memorial was designed by the English architect, Sir
Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960), who also designed the famous, red Jubilee
telephone boxes which have become an icon of Britain. If you look down the street to the left of
the memorial you will see a whole line of his phone boxes - almost like a
tribute to his talent.
Other famous
creations of his include Battersea Power Station (London), Waterloo Bridge
(London) and Liverpool Anglican cathedral.
His very rectangular style is present in much of his work.
The central sculpture of “Victory” is by Henry Alfred Pegram
(1862-1937). His sculptures can be found
in London, Norwich, New Zealand,
Birmingham, Cape Town, Cardiff, Liverpool and Shanghai.
Restoration work on the memorial was carried out between
2013 and 2014 in preparation for the centenary of World War one in 2014.
Incidentally it was Scott's grandfather Sir George Gilbert
Scott who designed the glorious Town Hall which once stood on the south side of
this market square.
This northern edge of the square once stood beneath a row of
houses, and the entrance to Friargate was a lot narrower - making the square a
fair bit smaller than it appears today.
Previously on this spot stood a different war memorial. This was built in memory to the fallen of the
Boer War. The monument was moved to
Avenham Park where it still stands.
Preston's recognition of its war dead does not stop
here. Inside the Harris Museum carved in
stone are the names of around 2,000 casualties of the first world war. It is a sobering experience to stand on the
stairs in the foyer of the Harris and look at the names of so many snatched
away by a horrific war.
