
Memorial details
- Memorial type
- Garden
- District
- Western Islands
- Town
- Garrabost (Isle of Lewis)
- County
- Western Isles
- Country
- Scotland
- Commemoration
- First World War (1914-1918), Second World War (1939-1945), Second World War - civilians
- Maker
- LOCAL CRAFTSMAN (Builder)
- Ceremony
- Unveiled
Date: 2 November 2004
Attended by: Three grandchildren and great grandchildren of those either commemorated on the memorial or who served in WW1 and WW2 - Dedicated
Date: 2 March 2019
Attended by: Revd Donald Macdonald - Unveiled
Date: 2 March 2019
Attended by: 6 children- descendants of those lost on the Iolaire - Dedicated
Date: 02 November 2004
Attended by: Local Clergy/Dignitaries - Show More (3)
- Unveiled
- Lost
- Not lost
- WM Reference
- 58326
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Current location
Next to Garrabost Church
Memorial Garden
Garrabost (Isle of Lewis)
Western Islands
Western Isles
HS2 0PS
Scotland
OS Grid Ref: NB 52233 33643
Denomination: Undefined
- Description
- Garden of remembrance bounded by a circular stone wall. The dedicatory inscription is placed on the wrought iron archway above the entrance gates. At the back of the garden are four granite name tablets mounted onto a stone backboard and set into the wall. In front of the wall is a raised, rectangular gravel-filled area depicting the Scottish flag. On 2 March 2019 a new granite wreath was added in memory of those 201 lost on the HMY Iolaire on 1 Jan 1919 Two separate stone cairns stand outside of the garden area with dedicatory tablets set into the side of them. The stonework of the wall is constructed from reclaimed stone taken from derelict buildings that were originally the homes of some of the dead.
- Inscription
- Over entrance gates: WE WILL REMEMBER THEM/ THEIR NAME LIVETH ON Tablets 1: ROLL OF HONOUR/AIRD/WORLD WAR 1/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/BROKER/WORLD WAR I/[names]/FLESHERIN/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/PORTNAGURA/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[name]/PORTVOLLER/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/SHESHADER/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/SHADER/WORLD WAR 1/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/PORTNAGURAN/WORLD WAR I/name] Tablet 2: ROLL OF HONOUR/AIGNISH/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/KNOCK/WORLD WAR 1/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/SWORDALE/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names] Tablet 3: ROLL OF HONOUR/UPPER BAYBLE/WORLD WAR I/[names]/GREEN PARK/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/GEILIR/WORLD WAR I/[names]/LOWER BAYBLE/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/EAGLETON/WORLD WAR II/[names]/UPPER GARRABOST/WORLD WAR 1/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[names]/LOWER GARRABOST/WORLD WAR I/[names]/WORLD WAR II/[name]/NEW GARRABOST/[names]/ALLOTMENTS/[name] Tablet 4: IN MEMORY OF THOSE LOST/ IN THE TRAGEDY OF/ HMY IOLAIRE/ ON/ 1ST JAN 1919/KNOCK/[names]/AIGNISH/[names]/UPPER BAYBLE/[names]/LOWER GARRABOST/[names]/SHADER/[names]/AIRD/[names]/SWORDALE/[names]/LOWER BAYBLE/[names]/SHESHADER/[names]/BROKER/[name]/PORTNAGURAN/[names] Cairn 1: CARRAGH/ CUIMHNE COGAIDH/ SGIRE AN RUBHA/ SAIRN CVII/[verses 29 & 30]/ AIG DOL FODHA NA GREINE/ AGUS ANNS A' MHADAINN/ (...) (Cannot read all of the inscription from photo supplied) cAIRN 2: WAR/ MEMORIAL/ DISTRICT OF POINT/ PSALM 107/ [verses 29 & 30) AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN/ AND IN THE MORNING WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM (Cannot read all of the inscription from photo supplied)
- Inscription legible?
- yes
- Commemorations
- First World War (1914-1918)
Total names on memorial: 191
Served and returned: 0
Died: 191
Exact count: yes
Information shown: home village, surname, initials of forenames, regiment, address
Order of information: home village - Second World War (1939-1945)
Total names on memorial: 40
Served and returned: 0
Died: 40
Exact count: yes
Information shown: home village, surname, initials of forenames, regiment, address
Order of information: home village - Second World War - civilians
Total names on memorial: 13
Served and returned: 0
Died: 13
Exact count: yes
Information shown: home village, surname, initials of forenames, regiment, address
Order of information: home village
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Components
- Garden
Measurements: Undefined
Materials: Undefined - Wall
Measurements: Undefined
Materials: Stone - Tablets
Measurements: Undefined
Materials: Granite, Stone - Gates
Measurements: Undefined
Materials: Wrought Iron - Cairn
Measurements: Undefined
Materials: Stone - Tablet
Measurements: Undefined
Materials: Granite
- Garden
- Condition
- Costs
Comments: War Memorials Trust contributed £250 to a new memorial erected at Point on the Isle of Lewis in 2003 (WM1111). The Trust does not have photographs of the entire memorial suitable for the Showcase. A new war memorial and garden of remembrance was created by the residents of Point on the Isle of Lewis in 2004. Four memorial plaques are one side of the walled paved garden of remembrance. It commemorates those who fell in the two World Wars. War Memorials Trust gave £250.00 towards the appeal to raise around £70,000 The 2019 Iolaire Wreath was fully funded by Point and Sandwick Trust. The charity, which owns and operates the turbines at Beinn Ghrideag for the benefit of the community, had been approached for a contribution but offered to meet the £2,200 costs of the memorial in full.
- Trust fund/Scholarship
- No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A - Reference
- Stornoway Gazette 04 November 2004
- www.pointandsandwick.co.uk/news/young-iolaire-descendants-unveil-memorial/ The granite wreath commissioned by Point War Memorial Committee in memory of the Iolaire and funded by Point and Sandwick Trust was unveiled at a dedication ceremony in Garrabost Memorial Gardens this morning (Saturday). More than 50 people of all ages braved the cold winds to take part in the half-hour service, led by the Rev Donald Macdonald and with official duties performed by Francis Jefferson, chair of the Memorial Committee. The service included the singing of the 23rd Psalm. Six youngsters – all with family connections to the Iolaire tragedy – joined together to unveil the sculpture, giving the community their first look at the memorial to all those who suffered when the Iolaire was lost on the Beasts of Holm in the early hours of January 1, 1919. Another youngster, 14-year-old piper Aaron Ingram, also performed a key role in the service – playing Pipe Major Donald Macleod’s famous piobaireachd Lament For The Iolaire. The rain, which had held off during the short service, started to fall then, as the service closed. The memorial stone was fully funded by Point and Sandwick Trust. Our charity, which owns and operates the turbines at Beinn Ghrideag for the benefit of the community, had been approached for a contribution but offered to meet the £2,200 costs of the memorial in full. After the service, Point and Sandwick Trust chairman Norman Mackenzie said: “It was a lovely service – first class, actually. It was very fitting. From Point and Sandwick Trust’s point of view, we are pleased to have been in the position to fully fund the request from the committee and the fitting permanent memorial.� Donald Martin, the Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles, was among those at the service. He said afterwards: “It was excellent, very appropriate, and a very impressive memorial.� At the start of the service, Francis Jefferson had spoken of the Memorial Committee’s desire to come up with a permanent memorial to the Iolaire around the 100th anniversary. “We’ve always placed a wreath of remembrance for the people who were killed during the war,� he said. This, however, was a wreath specifically for the Iolaire. “They were lost in peacetime, returning home after the war. That word always gives me a little shiver. It’s a very small word, war, but it signifies a very nasty event. It invariably involves the loss of an awful lot of people and in this particular war it was millions – and that goes against the grain of what we’re taught… ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’.� He reminded that a quarter of those who left the Isle of Lewis to serve in World War One did not return and that a further 201 had been lost afterwards, in the Iolaire. “The island suffered tremendously for the next 100 years because people didn’t talk about it. They mourned for their losses but on reflection I’m sure that all of us know that people who took part in the war tended not to talk about it. “It’s a horrible thing, they have seen horrible sights, they’ve lost their colleagues – but that is all trapped in their own heads. They don’t talk about it.� For the survivors of the Iolaire, they “came home and they suffered and suffered in silence�, and he added that he too had seen war and lost colleagues – and didn’t talk about it either. “It happens.� He reminded that a quarter of those who left the Isle of Lewis to serve in World War One did not return and that a further 201 had been lost afterwards, in the Iolaire. “The island suffered tremendously for the next 100 years because people didn’t talk about it. They mourned for their losses but on reflection I’m sure that all of us know that people who took part in the war tended not to talk about it. “It’s a horrible thing, they have seen horrible sights, they’ve lost their colleagues – but that is all trapped in their own heads. They don’t talk about it.� For the survivors of the Iolaire, they “came home and they suffered and suffered in silence�, and he added that he too had seen war and lost colleagues – and didn’t talk about it either. “It happens.�
- www.warmemorials.org/search-grants/?gID=230
- warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-ftopic2697.html
This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.
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