Sheffield's Hidden Away Crimean Monument

[SheffieldForum]

 

The Tribune today look at why a monument that was prominent in Sheffield has been hidden away in storage for decades and why it should be brought back…
 

“The story of the Crimean War Memorial — or, to give it its proper title, the Crimean Monument — is a long and complicated one. On Wednesday, 21 October, 1857, the monument’s foundation stone was laid at Moorhead by the Duke of Cambridge after a grand procession through the town’s streets from Norfolk Park. Also present, according to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, were the Mayor, the Master Cutler, a phalanx of Crimean War veterans, and, sitting in a wire cage decorated with flowers and evergreens, Whistling Jemmy, the “Sheffield Nightingale”.

 

“The monument took six years to complete and remained at Moorhead for one hundred years, until it was removed in December 1959 to make way for a new road layout. From there, the statue on top of the column went to the Botanical Gardens, while the column was broken up and moved to the Upperthorpe park. When the statue was removed to make way for a redesign of the gardens in 2004, Sheffield City Council had to get listed building consent to do so, but only on condition that they find a new place for it within two years. 20 years later, we’re still waiting.”

 

As always, the full story is at The Tribune.

 

 

[hauxwell]

I enjoyed reading this story and yes I would like to see it in the City Centre but we are seeing 

so many war memorials being  vandalised these days, which really annoys me when soldiers have given the ultimate sacrifice so we could have a better life.

 

 

 

 

[Zach Clay]

I think io prefer to prioritise public services instead of monuments and virtue signalling projects.  

 

Focus on the basics because its going to fall apart in the next few years....another financial crisis is just around the corner

 

So they should be spending our increased council taxes wisely 

[AndrewC]

Not the primary point of this article or thread, but whenever the subject of Moorhead pops up I can't help but rant about losing it to the inner-city road building plans that ripped through the area.

 

None of those post-war road building plans were great for central urban areas but in particular it really irks me that they chose to run the central 'civic circle' along Furnival Gate & Moorhead instead of potentially somewhere 1-2 blocks further south-west (for example, crossing the Moor in line with Matilda Street-Rockingham Street instead). In doing so they would have retained a quite prominent open space and junction in the area which today would probably be quite an attractive pedestrianised/semi-pedestrianised space on par with Fitzallan sq, Barkers Pool etc.

 

All hindsight of course, and they had reasons for doing it the way they did, but just a sad loss.

[SheffieldForum]

1 hour ago, Zach Clay said:

I think io prefer to prioritise public services instead of monuments and virtue signalling projects.  

 

Focus on the basics because its going to fall apart in the next few years....another financial crisis is just around the corner

 

So they should be spending our increased council taxes wisely 

The funding for these things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive but sadly these days they are.

 

Thats not the point for the Crimean Monument though… it isn’t ’virtue signalling’.

 

 This monument was organised and paid for by the people (not the authority) and so should absolutely be on display and not in some storage depot in Darnall (or the pedestal chopped into pieces and dumped in Upperthorpe Park!)

 

In fact, when getting permission to move it from the Botanical Gardens (to where it was initially moved when taken from Moorhead) the Council made a commitment to relocate it somewhere within two years… twenty years later it is boxed up in a storage facility.

 

Of course, because they didn’t deal with it straight away the costs of relocating it somewhere nowadays are estimated (by the Council) to be about half a million pounds or so.

 

It is a crying shame that one monument which doesn’t celebrate war but instead commemorates the ordinary people that war affected — with stories such as donations from the likes of Florence Nightingales family and all the educational opportunities that presents — is stashed away in a warehouse.

[Delbow]

Is the monument as enormous as it looks in that photo? Wouldn't want that in the city centre.

[crookesey]

Being as what’s left of it still exists, why not give it a place where it can be seen by folk that are interested in Sheffield history?

[Zach Clay]

1 hour ago, SheffieldForum said:

The funding for these things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive but sadly these days they are.

 

Thats not the point for the Crimean Monument though… it isn’t ’virtue signalling’.

 

 This monument was organised and paid for by the people (not the authority) and so should absolutely be on display and not in some storage depot in Darnall (or the pedestal chopped into pieces and dumped in Upperthorpe Park!)

 

In fact, when getting permission to move it from the Botanical Gardens (to where it was initially moved when taken from Moorhead) the Council made a commitment to relocate it somewhere within two years… twenty years later it is boxed up in a storage facility.

 

Of course, because they didn’t deal with it straight away the costs of relocating it somewhere nowadays are estimated (by the Council) to be about half a million pounds or so.

 

It is a crying shame that one monument which doesn’t celebrate war but instead commemorates the ordinary people that war affected — with stories such as donations from the likes of Florence Nightingales family and all the educational opportunities that presents — is stashed away in a warehouse.

Maybe they could pit it in the center of that park they are building on the old Castle Market site.

 

Thats if they ever get it finished

[crookesey]

We’re never going to reverse the stupidities of the 1960’s, but we can attempt to pay respect to those who gave their lives in stupid wars such as that in the Crimea, there was at least on VC recipient on the monument, I believe that he later committed suicide. It doesn’t need all the regalia of the original, I’d settle for the names of the dead.

[vmam]

The column is now part of a play area at Upperthorpe and has been for years, the mythical animals  outside the Poundland crossing on High Street were cast from the originals from the Crimea monument, I don't know what happened to the cannons that were there, Victoria ended up in Endcliffe park.

The council don't give a toss about the history and heritage of Sheffield, all they can say is " knock it down and build student flats "