Call for stone donations to help build Hampshire memorial
Volunteers behind plans to build a commemorative wall for the 736 men lost on HMS Hampshire in 1916 are hoping to create an unusually large recycling project in Orkney.
The planned wall, to be built next to the Kitchener Memorial, will be around 20 metres long and the project team hope to find the required stone somewhere in West Mainland.
“We are looking for someone with some suitable stone, or a ruin, on their land in the West Mainland, preferably Birsay, that we could use to build the wall,” said Neil Kermode, chairman of the Kitchener and HMS Hampshire Memorial project.
“Because this is a specialist job, we are looking for several possible donors and we will then get the masons to pick the stone they think will work best.
“I hope potential donors will see this as an opportunity to get what might be the remains of an old family home, or perhaps an old animal shelter, whatever it is, turned into a significant war memorial that will be visited by hundreds of people.”
The project team will arrange the removal of the chosen stone from the land and the delivery to the tower.
The planned wall, subject to planning permission, will be a little over a metre high. Local building stone will be used for the seaward side.
The names of the 736 men who died, including Kitchener, will be engraved in granite in order to be more weather resistant.
The project team also plan to restore the Kitchener Memorial to its original condition and planning permission for this part of the project, which will see the tower’s stonework restored to its original condition, the roof inspected and repaired, the ventilation reinstated and the former inspection doorway in the memorial restored, has been granted.
Anyone who would like to offer stone is asked to email kitchener.memorial@gmail.com or write to Neil Kermode, Quarry House, Finstown, Orkney, KW17 2JY, or phone (01856) 761849.
- Fundraising is under way for the £200,000 project and donations are welcome via the group’s JustGiving page.