The Thiepval Memorial
The Inspiration
_The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme
More than 72,000 men have their names engraved on the walls of the Thiepval Memorial in Northern France. All fell in the Somme sector before 20th March 1918. None have a known grave.
This imposing structure stands over the agricultural fields that belie the violent past they hide. Designed by the Great architect and landscape marvel, Sir Edwin Lutyens, it still stands as the biggest British battle memorial in the world.
My visit in August 2009 left a mental scar of what it represents. I had just started to trace my own ancestors through the Great War, I was well aware of the sacrifice each name represented. Families left alone, never to know how, when or where.
_One of so many
_War graves dot the surrounding
countryside, beside a narrow lane or under trees on hill-tops. Each a
reminder to us all, each kept clean and tidy as fitting the debt we owe.
At the foot of the slope at Thiepval lies a garden of grasses and daisies like drifts in a meadow. It somehow linked the neat rows of graves to the surrounding fields but it also felt like a little bit of home for the boys left behind. Overall you gain a sense of peace, a far cry from its origins; it is a haven, an oasis surrounded by land healing its scars.
At the foot of the slope at Thiepval lies a garden of grasses and daisies like drifts in a meadow. It somehow linked the neat rows of graves to the surrounding fields but it also felt like a little bit of home for the boys left behind. Overall you gain a sense of peace, a far cry from its origins; it is a haven, an oasis surrounded by land healing its scars.
_The garden at Thiepval
_Soon after my visit I was asked by Hadlow College to design and build
their show garden for the Kent County Show at Detling. My only brief was
to make it an oasis amongst the madding crowd of the agricultural show.
My thoughts went back to Thiepval.
_© Alan Graham 2014