The Cenotaph

Approximately 60,000 men from Bristol enlisted in the British armed forces in First World War, and around 4,500 were killed. After the armistice, Bristol City Council established a committee to consider proposals for a war memorial, but little progress was made for years, with opinions divided between those wanting a purely commemorative structure and those preferring a more practical project, such as a memorial hospital. It proved difficult to raise sufficient money for a more ambitious project, and the committee eventually decided on a commemorative structure. The siting of the memorial was also controversial, with sites proposed near Bristol Cathedral, and others including the Old…

The memorial comprises a 6 m high rectangular stone slab constructed from shelly limestone ashlars with a moulded top, bearing a stone sarcophagus, with bundles of spears or fasces laid down to either side and a console at each end. The main slab stands on a stone plinth with one step, positioned on a stone base with three steps. The base has four stone pylons, one at each corner, with each bearing a bronze lion's head. Positioned outside the base are four bronze lamp standards. The longer main faces of the central memorial face to the north and south, each bearing a carved stone wreath above a bronze sword, originally gilded, with the dates 1914 and 1939 to the left and 1918 and 1945 to…