Rochdale Cenotaph

Rochdale Cenotaph
United Kingdom
For servicemen from Rochdale killed in the First World War
Unveiled1922; 102 years ago (1922)
Location53°36′58″N 2°09′35″W / 53.616238°N 2.159743°W / 53.616238; -2.159743
Rochdale town centre, Greater Manchester, England
Designed bySir Edwin Lutyens
TO THE MEMORY OF THE MEN OF ROCHDALE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR / THEY WERE A WALL UNTO US BOTH BY NIGHT AND BY DAY
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameRochdale Cenotaph
Designated12 February 1985
Reference no.1084274

Rochdale Cenotaph is a First World War memorial on the Esplanade in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in the north west of England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is one of seven memorials in England based on his Cenotaph in London and one of his more ambitious designs. The memorial was unveiled in 1922 and consists of a raised platform bearing Lutyens' characteristic Stone of Remembrance next to a 10-metre (33 ft) pylon topped by an effigy of a recumbent soldier. A set of painted stone flags surrounds the pylon.

A public meeting in February 1919 established a consensus to create a monument and a fund for the families of wounded servicemen. The meeting agreed to commission Lutyens to design the monument. His design for a bridge over the River Roch was abandoned after a local dignitary purchased a plot of land adjacent to Rochdale Town Hall and donated it for the site of the memorial. Lutyens revised his design, and Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, unveiled the memorial on 26 November 1922. It is a Grade I listed structure, having been upgraded in 2015 when Lutyens' war memorials were declared a national collection.