South Shields, Mill Dam, 'Merchant Navy Memorial'

HER Number:
11137

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
South Shields, Mill Dam, 'Merchant Navy Memorial'

Place:
South Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Commemorative

Site Type: Broad:
Commemorative Monument

Site Type: Specific:
War Memorial

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
1990 by Robert Olley, foundry was Burleighfield. A bronze statue 2.5m high of a sailor at the wheel on a sloping yellow ashlar pedestal 1.74m high. Inscribed on the pedestal on a plaque are the words: "MERCHANT NAVY MEMORIAL/ THIS STATUE WAS UNVEILED BY/ COUNTESS MOUNTBATTEN OF BURMA/ ON 19TH SEPTEMBER 1990/ IN MEMORY OF THE THOUSANDS OF MERCHANT SEAMEN/ WHO SAILED FROM THIS PORT AND LOST THEIR LIVES IN WORLD WAR II/ UNRECOGNIZED YOU PUT US IN YOUR DEPT/ UNTHANKED YOU ENTER OR ESCAPE THE GRAVE/ WHETHER YOUR LAND REMEMBER OR FORGET/ YOU SAVED THE LAND, OR DIED TRYING TO SAVE/ JOHN MASEFIELD POET LAUREATE". The £56,000 needed was raised by public subscription. The plinth was paid for by Tyne and Wear Development Corporation. LOCAL LIST

Easting:
3586

Northing:
6689

Grid Reference:
NZ35866689

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Paul Usherwood, Jeremy Beach and Catherine Morris, 2000, Public Sculpture of North East England, p 173; North East War Memorials Project www.newmp.org.uk S86.010; an Ayris, Peter Jubb, Steve Palmer and Paul Usherwood, 1996, A Guide to the Public Monuments and Sculpture of Tyne and Wear, p 65; SOUTH TYNESIDE LOCAL LIST REVIEW 2011: REFERENCE NUMBER: LSHA/5/SS