Erection date: /11/2018
{Along the edge of the plinth:}
Against the armour of the storm I'll hold my human barrier.
{On a bronze plaque attached to the plinth:}
The Southwark Memorial 2018 - Kenny Hunter
Words - Hamish Henderson
{Stamped into the bronze:}
Powderhall Bronze
This depicts an anonymous 12-year-old youth standing on a giant, fallen ash tree. The inscription is a line from a WW2 poem by Hamish Henderson. "The sculpture has been commissioned to commemorate all the lives that have been affected by war and conflict around the globe, including the lives of members of the armed forces, civilians, refugees and others." Source: Contemporary Art Society.
Without that explanation we would not know what the sculpture is commemorating. The memorial itself does not even mention war or conflict.
You can't see it in our photo, but 2 or 3 feet of a branch of the trunk has been cut off but left, symbolically, in place on the plinth.
Both the poet, who was born on Armistice Day 1919, and the sculptor are Scottish.
Site: Southwark war memorial - Walworth Square (1 memorial)
SE17, Wansey Street, Walworth Square
We like to provide a close-up photo plus a location shot, to help you see the memorial in context and to help you find it. Here the on-going building works make that second photo difficult. The building under wraps is the Walworth Town Hall. Its refurb following a 2018 fire and is due to complete Q4 2023. We'll be back after that to get some better photos.
