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Newtownards, County Down.
The Newtownards and district War Memorial is located at the junction of Castle Street and Church Square in a small park known locally as The Bowling Green.
Following a heavy snowfall in 1924, ex-soldiers of Newtownards took full advantage of the snowfall, and constructed a ‘snow memorial.’ This was assumed to have been an attempt to embarrass the Council into constructing the long promised war memorial.
It constricted of a snow pedestal standing eight or nine feet in height with four pillars. On top of this pedestal an ex-soldier sat with the representation of a rifle through his arm, and wearing a ‘tin hat.’ and other accoutrements complete. In front was a large placard bearing the words “Lest we forget.”
Quote from the unveiling ceremony in 1934, ‘No more appropriate spot could have been chosen for the erection of a memorial to our glorious dead. Situate in the old Bowling Green, and surrounded by trees, shrub, and railings, it is a spot of peace and quiet in which any mother, any wife or any sister, might go on the anniversary of the battle in which their loved ones lost their lives, and spend a few minutes in peaceful meditation, and in conjuring up a vision of the departed ones.’
The Marquis of Londonderry, to whom the Bowling Green belongs, has made a free gift of it to the town, for all time, and free of rent.
The memorial, which is a granite obelisk with a figure symbolic of Peace and Honour on the front, and with a carving at the top symbolising Justice, it has the Newtownards Crest on the base. It is in reality a County Down memorial for County Down men, for it is composed of granite from the Moor quarries at Newry, and it is quite an imposing structure.
As close as we can ascertain l,396 men enlisted from Newtownards and surrounding districts, of whom 316 paid the last sacrifice.’
The inscription is;-
In Memory of the Men of Newtownards and District who laid down their lives serving King and Country in the Great War 1914 – 1918.
“Lest we forget.”
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