Southampton Cenotaph

The Southampton Cenotaph stands within Watts (West) Park, alongside Above Bar Street. Constructed in the years following the First World War, it is a significant group value memorial, raised on a platform of five stone steps. To the west of the cenotaph, the Stone of Remembrance sits upon a further two steps.

The cenotaph itself is a five-tier tapering stone pylon topped with a stone sarcophagus, on which lies a recumbent effigy of a dead soldier. To the west is the Stone of Remembrance, and to the north and south, two shorter single-tier pillars surmounted by fir cones, symbols of eternity, are flush with the eastern face. These pillars are connected to the pylon by a seat and a wall. The pedestal of the cenotaph incorporates recessed panels on the north and south sides, bearing the names of 1,793 individuals who lost their lives. A supplemental roll of honour, added in 1921 (203 names) and 1922 (one name), is inscribed on the pylon below these panels. Inscriptions also appear: "OUR GLORIOUS DEAD" on the lower tier of the eastern face and “THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE” on the west face of the Stone of Remembrance.

The central pylon features numerous sculptural depictions. A cross of sacrifice is represented on the eastern face; the eastern and western faces of the third tier display the coat of arms of the city of Southampton; lions are mounted on the north and south shoulders of the fourth tier; and sculpted wreaths enclosing the emblems of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, and Mercantile Marine are positioned on the fifth tier, just below the sarcophagus. Four individual panels of etched green glass, each measuring 1.2 metres in height and 2.85 metres in width, are mounted in Portland stone supports on either side of the memorial. These panels also bear the names of the fallen.