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The Portland Cenotaph is a
Portland sent upwards of 1000 men to fight during the Great War. In the years following
The Portland Cenotaph is a war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
located on the Isle of Portland
An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms.
Isle may refer to:
Geography
* Is ...
, Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is situated at New Ground, looking down to Underhill of the island and overlooking Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associat ...
, as it stands in front of Portland Heights Hotel. The monument is dedicated to the local soldiers who died during both the First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
s. It has been a Grade II Listed Monument since May 1993.
History
Portland sent upwards of 1000 men to fight during the Great War. In the years following World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the local people of Portland expressed their desire to retain the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice. However, the communities of Underhill and Tophill
Tophill is a gently sloping area of land on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England, rising from sea level at Portland Bill to near HMP The Verne at its northern end. On Tophill are five of the settlements on the island: Easton, Weston, ...
continually argued that there should be two separate war memorials to honour the dead. In the end, a compromise was reached by placing the memorial where it could be seen by both communities at New Ground.
It was unveiled on 11 November 1926 by ex-Private Crispin – a local ex-soldier who had lost three brothers in the war. The featured title reads "In memory of our glorious dead 1914–1918". After World War II, those who died in the war were recorded underneath those from World War I, with the title "And of those who made the supreme sacrifice in the Second World War 1939–1945". The memorial records 237 Portland soldiers who had died in World War I and lists 108 local soldiers who died in World War II.
The memorial is the place of gathering each year for Remembrance Day, and in 2012, local newspaper Dorset Echo reported that more than 400 people gathered at the war memorial for the Portland Royal British Legion service – one of the biggest crowds ever to attend.
HMS Sidon Memorial and Olympic Rings
Nearby to the memorial is another smaller memorial which was erected in 2005 for the men who died in the explosion of a faulty torpedo on board the submarineHMS Sidon (P259)
HMS ''Sidon'' was a submarine of the Royal Navy, launched in September 1944, one of the third group of S class built by Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead, named after the naval bombardment of Sidon in 1840. An explosion caused by a fau ...
whilst docked alongside Portland Harbour in 1955. In 2012, a sculpture of the Olympic rings, carved to celebrate the summer's sailing events at Weymouth and Portland, was placed close to the memorials. It had been in Weymouth during the games, greeting passengers at the town's railway station.
References
{{Isle of Portland Isle of Portland World War I memorials in the United Kingdom World War II memorials in the United Kingdom Grade II listed monuments and memorials Grade II listed buildings in Dorset