Laurence Binyon ‘For The Fallen’ – Peace Garden Wall Memorial – Sheffield, UK - Etched in Stone on Waymarking.com

The plaque is in the Sheffield Peace Gardens near to the western entrance at the side of the town hall.

The garden is on the site of a church built in 1720 at a time when Sheffield was expanding. However in later years the size of the congregation fell and by 1938 the Church of England did not need it anymore. The church was demolished to make room for a planned extension to the nearby Town Hall, but this was abandoned after the outbreak of the 2nd World War. The council turned the area into a temporary garden named St. Paul’s after the church. However after the end of the war local people started to call it the peace garden. Eventually the council officially changed the name to the Peace Garden on Hiroshima Day, 6th August in 1985.

The council then decided to redesign the gardens for the millennium, and with funding from the Millennium Lottery Fund completely renovated the gardens, with a large number of fountains and seating areas.

Also inscribed on the memorial is the 4th stanza from the war poem ‘For the Fallen’. This poem was written by poet Laurence Binyon (1869 – 1943). He studied at Trinity College, Oxford where he won the Newdigate poetry prize.

His poem ‘For The Fallen’ was based on his early experiences during World War I, and his fourth stanza is often used on war memorials.

The quote is as follows.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. Binyon (1869 – 1943)

It should be noted that there is a mis-quote on the memorial. According to the website line 2 of the stanza is

Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.

On the memorial the word contemn as been inscribed as condemn. This is not a commonly known word but according to Dictioanry.com it means to 'Treat or regard with contempt'. The line does make sense with the word condemn, but I think contemn is better (providing you understand what it means).

The rest of the plaque is as follows

TO THE MEMORY OF ALL THOSE CITIZENS
OF SHEFFIELD. BOTH MILITARY AND CIVILIAN
WHO LOST THEIR LIVES AS A RESULT OF WAR
AND IN THE PURSUIT OF PEACE

There are also 2 other plaques near here, one commemorating the peace gardens themselves and, the other to the men of South Yorkshire who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Address: The Peace Gardens Pinstone St. Sheffield United Kingdom S1 2HH Website: [Web Link]

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