Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Memorial Garden

I'm glad the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office, the Rt Hon Hugo Swire MP, paid a visit to the Palace Barracks Memorial Garden today.

Frankly I hadn't been aware of it at all.

A quiet corner of the army base, just outside Holywood, County Down,  has become a poignant place of pilgrimage for the bereaved families of the security force personnel killed in the NI Troubles and other conflicts around the world.

The foundations for the one-and-half-acre site of the memorial garden in Palace Barracks were laid in 1994.

The main granite memorial Stone was mined in the west coast of South Africa, north of Durban, as is every stone in the memorial garden.

It was then brought in blocks weighing 10 tons from South Africa to Holland by Sea. Its journey then continued on to Warrenpoint, County Down.

Visits can be arranged by contacting:-

Memorial Custodian
Palace Barracks, Holywood
BFPO 806
albert.owens@btinternet.com
at

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 November 2011 at 12:47

    Durban is on the East coast of SA. The granite may well come from North West Province and sailed from Durban.

    Andrew

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  2. Anonymous2 September 2013 at 14:19

    Belfast (eMakhazeni) is in Mpumalanga in Northern South Africa west of the Kruger Park. Black granite is mined in the area close to the town and given the name is most likely the source of the Granite used in the memorials in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The nearest main shipping port would be Richards Bay or Durban in Kwa-zulu Natal Province to the south east.

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