War Memorial #400 ~ Colchester Virtual Cache

Colchester's war memorial

Colchester's war memorial, dedicated to all the brave men and women who fought and still fight in wars around the world. I believe Colchester's War Memorial to be the most beautiful in the whole of England - and probably our finest publicly owned work of art. I believe that those men and women who worked so hard to bring us this monument to our fallen heroes are owed a huge debt by us all.

It is one of the country’s most imposing war memorials with Colchester Castle as a picturesque backdrop.

The distinctive memorial, unlike the design of most other war memorials, has been part of our visual history from when it was unveiled in 1922 to honour the more than 1,250 men from the town who lost their lives in the Great War, or the First World War as we now call it.

For the garrison town of Colchester, the town council wanted something special. Thus it was that one of Britain’s most eminent sculptors, Mr Fehr, was commissioned to design the memorial. (Mr Fehr had designed the frieze at the front of Middlesex Guildhall, on the south-west corner of Parliament Square, which opened in 1913.)

The Colchester war memorial has a three stepped granite base leading to an imposing limestone plinth with bronze figures representing St George and Peace on two sides and winged Victory on top. To each upper corner of the plinth is a carved head wearing a winged helmet. The memorial also has bronze plaques on the front and rear faces with the dedications to the fallen of World War I and later World War II. Behind the memorial are associated gates to Castle Park with stone piers surmounted by bronze lions holding shields and in front are stone columns with lanterns. The main gates to the Castle Park were donated by Lord Cowdray and which, together with the Castle, forms part of Colchester's War Memorial. The memorial is Grade II listed. 

• The Winged Victory is a figure of exquisite beauty - the poise is perfect. In her right hand she is holding a sword, point downwards so that it represents "The Cross of Sacrifice" and "The Sword of Devotion," and in her left a wreath of laurel.

• The figure of St. George is symbolical of the chivalry and the manhood of England. He is standing on the dead Dragon, emblematical of the vanquished foe. His face, although victorious, is somewhat sad, as though he were thinking of "Our Glorious Dead." On his breast-plate is the Cross of St. George.

• The lovely figure of a woman representing Peace shows what we strove for, what we hope for - far off as the realisation of our hope seems at present - "Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards Men" - that true Brotherhood of Nations of which we hope the League of Nations may prove the starting point. But as St. George represents the Manhood, so the figure of Peace represents the Womanhood of England, and reminds us of all the splendid work done by the women of England in general and Colchester in particular.

The Roll Of Honour can be found within Colchester Town Hall

Questions to answer:

1. There are two bronze lions holding a shield mounted on stone pillars one to the left and one to the right of the gate, how many black tudor roses are built onto the fence between these two points? (see waypoints and attached pics if unsure)

2. On Colchester Castle Park gate behind the monument there are two oval crests, describe both crests. (not the one above the gate, impressive as it is)

3. Carved in stone (very faint) on the lower back corner of the monument are a few words, what are they (as best as you can see)?

4. Please take a photo of yourself and post it with your log. Faces are not required but desired, so if you're shy please feel free to post your GPS in a picture instead.

Hope you enjoyed the history, views and taking part in this virtual cache. Thank-you in advance for your log and please do not the include Answers 1,2 & 3 in anyway please message me them direct.

Virtual Reward - 2017/2018

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.

I was lucky enough to be asked to join the War Memorial series, if anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Just-us-Two know first at justustwo1013@gmail.com (please don't send the Virtual answers to this email as it is not the cache owner) so they can keep track of the memorial numbers and names to avoid any duplication.