National Covid Memorial Wall

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National Covid Memorial Wall
The National Covid Memorial Wall, London, 2021-04-16 04.jpg
Section of the National Covid Memorial Wall, April 2021
National Covid Memorial Wall
ArtistCovid bereaved volunteers and the Friends of the Wall
Year2021
Subject COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
Dimensions500 m(1/3 mi)
Location London
Website nationalcovidmemorialwall.org

The National Covid Memorial Wall in London is a public memorial painted by volunteers to commemorate victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [1] Started in March 2021 and stretching more than one-third of a mile (540 metres) along the South Bank of the River Thames, opposite the Palace of Westminster, [2] the memorial consists of over 250,000 red hearts, one for each person in the United Kingdom who died with COVID-19 on their death certificate. [3]

Contents

In June 2025, The National Covid Memorial Wall became a registered charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. [4]

History

The memorial wall was conceived and created by the campaign group Led By Donkeys working in collaboration with Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. [5] [6] Over a thousand volunteers hand-painted approximately 150,000 red hearts over 10 days from 29 March 2021. [5] [6] Bereaved families filled these hearts with messages and the names of lost loved ones, with more continuing to be added over subsequent months. [6] Though the project was started without council permission, [7] it gained widespread support and public recognition. [8] What had been intended as a temporary artistic interpretation of the devastating death toll had become something far more than that, but the Posca pens used to create it were not designed to withstand the elements, and within weeks, the wall of hearts had begun to fade. In August 2021, a small group of bereaved women got together and committed to ensuring that this would not be allowed to happen. Others joined them in their weekly sessions at the wall and eventually the group of ten bereaved volunteers formalised itself as an unincorporated association, The Friends of the Wall. Over time, The Friends of the Wall completely repainted the hearts on the wall with long lasting masonry paint, re-writing dedications, removing graffiti, and adding hearts as the UK death toll continued to mount . [9]

Location

The memorial stretches more than one-third mile (five hundred metres) along the South Bank of the River Thames from Westminster Bridge to Lambeth Bridge, opposite the Palace of Westminster. Being outside of St Thomas' Hospital, it also encompasses an older plaque dedicated to the 1994-6 human BSE outbreak.

Reactions

On 29 March 2021, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer visited the mural, which he described as a "remarkable memorial", before calling on Boris Johnson to visit the mural personally and engage with the families of the deceased. [3] Johnson later visited the wall for "quiet reflection" and was criticised by bereaved families, who said that the visit, which did not include a meeting with them, was "a late evening visit under cover of darkness ... a cynical and insincere move that is deeply hurtful". [10] [11]

Future of the memorial

In March 2023, the Commission for Covid Commemoration (headed by Baroness Nicky Morgan) recommended to the government that the wall be made a permanent memorial. Discussions began between the Friends of the Wall (the bereaved volunteers who maintain the wall), [12] the DCMS, St. Thomas’ Hospital, and the local planning authority to explore how to work together to ensure this unique memorial can be preserved.

On 13 November 2025, it was announced in the House of Lords that The National Covid Memorial Wall would be made a permanent national memorial. [13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Walk the National Covid Memorial Wall". National Covid Memorial Wall. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  2. ↑ Birchley, Emma (8 April 2021). "COVID-19: Huge London memorial wall marks scale of UK's coronavirus deaths – as families ensure loved ones don't 'disappear'". Sky News. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 Sachdeva, Manpreet Kaur (30 March 2021). "COVID-19: Bereaved families paint mural of almost 150,000 red hearts to represent victims". Sky News. Sky News. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "THE NATIONAL COVID MEMORIAL WALL - Charity 1213668". prd-ds-register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  5. 1 2 Rawlinson, Kevin (29 March 2021). "Covid bereaved begin work on memorial wall opposite Westminster". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Lynskey, Dorian (18 July 2021). "Wall of love: the incredible story behind the national Covid memorial". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  7. ↑ Townsend, Mark (4 April 2021). "Wall of hearts grows as a memorial to loved ones taken by coronavirus". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  8. ↑ Grierson, Jamie (29 March 2022). "Future of Covid memorial wall still uncertain one year after the first heart". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  9. ↑ Muir, Ellie (11 January 2022). "London's Covid memorial wall has had a spruce-up". Time Out London. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  10. ↑ "Johnson visited Covid Memorial Wall 'under the cover of darkness'". Express and Star. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  11. ↑ Grylls, George (30 April 2021). "Boris Johnson visited pandemic memorial wall without meeting bereaved". The Times . Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  12. ↑ Kindred, Alahna (14 January 2023). "Heartbreaking pilgrimage of grieving Covid families to honour those lost". Mirror. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "Covid-19 Pandemic: Commemoration - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. 15 November 2025. Retrieved 15 November 2025.

51°30′00″N0°07′12″W / 51.500°N 0.120°W / 51.500; -0.120

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