56°53′52.42″N4°56′38.51″W / 56.8978944°N 4.9440306°W | |
Location | Lochaber, Scottish Highlands |
---|---|
Designer | Scott Sutherland |
Type | statue |
Material | bronze sculpture |
Height | 17 ft (5.2 m) |
Beginning date | 1949 |
Completion date | 1951 |
Opening date | 1952 |
Dedicated to | British Commandos |
The Commando Memorial is a Category A listed monument in Lochaber, Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during World War II. Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle. Unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother, it is one of Scotland's best-known monuments, both as a war memorial and as a tourist attraction offering views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr.
In 1949, the sculptor Scott Sutherland won a competition open to all Scottish sculptors for the commission, The Commando Memorial. [1] Sutherland's design won first prize of £200. [2] The base of the bronze statue is inscribed with the date of 1951. The sculpture was cast by H.H. Martyn & Co. The memorial was officially unveiled by the Queen Mother on 27 September 1952. [3] [4] [5] The monument was first designated as a listed structure on 5 October 1971, and was upgraded to a Category A listing on 15 August 1996. [6] On 18 November 1993 a further plaque was added to mark the Freedom of Lochaber being given to the Commando Association. [7] On 27 March 2010 a two-mile (three-kilometre) war memorial path was opened connecting two local war memorials, the Commando Memorial, and the former High Bridge built by General Wade, where the first shots were fired in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 in the Highbridge Skirmish. [8]
The monument consists of a cast bronze sculpture of three Commandos in characteristic dress complete with cap comforter, webbing and rifle, standing atop a stone plinth looking south towards Ben Nevis. [3] The soldier at the front is thought to depict Commando Jack Lewington who frequently attended Remembrance Services at the monument during his lifetime. One of the other two soldiers is Frank Nicholls (rank unknown) the other is Regimental Sergeant Major Sidney Hewlett. Originally serving with the Welsh Guards, he was hand picked to be one of the founding NCOs of the commandos, and was also held in high regard and noted several times by Eisenhower. [9] The entire monument is 17 feet (5.2 metres) tall. [7] [10] The monument has been variously described as a huge, striking and iconic statue. [9] [10] [11]
"United we conquer" is inscribed around the top of the stone plinth, while the original plaque on the stone plinth reads: "In memory of the officers and men of the commandos who died in the Second World War 1939–1945. This country was their training ground." [3] [4]
Spean Bridge is a small village around eight miles (thirteen kilometres) northeast of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, and the memorial is located approximately 1 mile (1.5 kilometres) northwest of Spean Bridge, at the junction of the A82 road and the B8004 road. It is a prominent landmark visible from the A82, and the site itself offers views across the River Spean valley to the peaks of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr to the south. [9]
The location was chosen because it is on the route from Spean Bridge railway station to the former Commando Training Centre at nearby Achnacarry Castle. Arriving prospective Commandos would disembark after a 14-hour journey, load their kit bags onto waiting trucks and then speed-march the seven miles (eleven kilometres) to the training centre in full kit with weapon, weighing a total of 36 pounds (16 kilograms). Anyone not completing it within 60 minutes was immediately RTU'd (returned to unit). [1] [12]
The monument stands as a memorial to the British Commandos who trained all around the Lochaber region which the monument overlooks, while they were based at the Achnacarry Commando Training Centre established in 1942. [10] [11] [13] As such it is used as site for memorial services, including the 60th anniversary of D-Day, and Remembrance Day ceremonies. [9] [14]
A Garden of Remembrance, which was subsequently added to the site, is used by many surviving World War II Commandos as the designated final resting place for their ashes. [10] It has also been used as a place where many families have scattered ashes and erected tributes to loved ones who belonged to contemporary Commando units and who have died in more recent conflicts such as the Falklands War or in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Scott Sutherland (15 May 1910 – 10 October 1984) was an award-winning Scottish sculptor born in Wick, Highland and schooled at Gray's School of Art, the Edinburgh College of Art and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After touring Europe and winning two out of the five open commissions offered for the Empire Exhibition, he served in the Army during World War II, working alongside commandos. After the war he took the post of Head of Sculpture at Duncan of Jordanstone' College in 1947. Sutherland was elected ARSA (Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy) in 1950 and FRBS (Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors) in 1961. In 1975 he retired, and died nine years later in hospital in Dundee. [1]
Fort William is a town in Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands, located on the eastern shore of Loch Linnhe. At the 2011 census, Fort William had a population of 10,459, making it the second-largest settlement both in the Highland council area and in the whole of the Scottish Highlands; only the city of Inverness has a larger population.
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Initially drawn from within the British Army from soldiers who volunteered for the Special Service Brigade, the Commandos' ranks would eventually be filled by members of all branches of the British Armed Forces and a number of foreign volunteers from German-occupied countries. By the end of the war 25,000 men had passed through the Commando course at Achnacarry. This total includes not only the British volunteers, but volunteers from Greece, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, Norway and Poland. The United States Army Rangers and US Marine Corps Raiders, Portuguese Fuzileiros Portuguese Marine Corps were modelled on the Commandos.
The A82 is a major road in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William. It is one of the principal north-south routes in Scotland and is mostly a trunk road managed by Transport Scotland, who view it as an important link from the Central Belt to the Scottish Highlands and beyond. The road passes close to numerous landmarks, including Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor, Glen Coe, the Ballachulish Bridge, Ben Nevis, the Commando Memorial, Loch Ness, and Urquhart Castle. Along with the A9 and the A90 it is one of the three major north–south trunk roads connecting the Central Belt to the North.
Càrn Mòr Dearg is the ninth-highest mountain in Scotland and the British Isles, with a height of 1,220 metres (4,000 ft). It stands a short distance northeast of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, to which it is linked by the 'Càrn Mòr Dearg arête'. Along with Càrn Dearg Meadhanach and Càrn Beag Dearg, it makes up the eastern ridge of the horseshoe-shaped Ben Nevis massif in the Scottish Highlands.
Achnacarry is a hamlet, private estate, and a castle in the Lochaber region of the Highlands, Scotland. It occupies a strategic position on an isthmus between Loch Lochy to the east, and Loch Arkaig to the west.
Glen Nevis is a glen in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, with Fort William at its foot. It is bordered to the south by the Mamore range, and to the north by the highest mountains in the British Isles: Ben Nevis, Càrn Mor Dearg, Aonach Mòr, and Aonach Beag. It is home to one of the three highest waterfalls in Scotland, Steall Falls, where the Allt Coire a'Mhail joins the Water of Nevis in the glen. Below the waterfall is a steeply walled and impressive gorge. The scenic beauty of the glen has led to its inclusion in the Ben Nevis and Glen Coe National Scenic Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland.
Aonach Mòr is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. It is located about two miles northeast of Ben Nevis on the south side of Glen Spean, near Fort William. The mountain has a summit elevation of 4,006 ft (1,221 m) and is classified as a Munro.
Clan Cameron is a West Highland Scottish clan, with one main branch Lochiel, and numerous cadet branches. The Clan Cameron lands are in Lochaber and within their lands lies Ben Nevis which is the highest mountain in the British Isles. The Chief of the clan is customarily referred to as simply "Lochiel".
Spean Bridge is a village in the parish of Kilmonivaig, in Lochaber in the Highland region of Scotland.
Stob Choire Claurigh is a mountain in Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands, with a height of 1,177 metres (3,862 ft). It is part of the Grey Corries, near Ben Nevis, and lies about 16 km (10 mi) east of Fort William. It is described as one of the best ridge walks on the Scottish mainland.
Kilmonivaig is a small village, situated close to the southeast end of Loch Lochy in Spean Bridge, Inverness-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.
The Sir William Sutherland Cup, more commonly known simply as the Sutherland Cup, is a trophy in the sport of shinty. It is the national cup competition for junior sides, the equivalent of the Camanachd Cup for those sides in lower league competition. The current (2022) holders are Newtonmore 2nd team, the "junior" level reserves of the successful "senior" club.
George Henry Paulin, often called Harry Paulin, or 'GHP' was a Scottish sculptor and artist of great note in the early 20th century.
The River Nevis flows from the mountains east of Ben Nevis to its mouth near the town of Fort William in Scotland.
Beinn Bhàn is a Scottish mountain situated in the Lochaber region of the Highland Council Area. It stands 6 miles (10 km) north-west of Spean Bridge. The hill is not to be confused with another and better known Beinn Bhàn on the Applecross peninsula.
Ben Nevis and Glen Coe is a national scenic area (NSA) covering part of the Highlands of Scotland surrounding Ben Nevis and Glen Coe, in which certain forms of development are restricted. It is one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development. The Ben Nevis and Glen Coe NSA covers 903 km2 (349 sq mi) of land, lying within the Highland, Argyll and Bute and Perth and Kinross council areas. A further 19 km2 (7.3 sq mi) of the NSA are marine, covering the sea loch of Loch Leven.
Scott Sutherland was a Scottish sculptor, best known for the Commando Memorial in Spean Bridge. He was Head of Sculpture at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
The Commando Basic Training Centre was a British Army training establishment primarily for the training of British Commandos during the Second World War. It was located in the grounds of Achnacarry Castle in the Scottish Highland region of Lochaber.
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