Vandals strike at historic Dundee cenotaph
The Dundee Cenotaph has had a rough year - trucks have smashed into the fencing on several occasions and now vandals have struck.
Dundee’s Cenotaph which honours those from the district who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country was this morning hit by vandals.
A section of the newly repaired palisade fencing that had previously been crushed on two separate occasions by errant truck drivers has been hacked away.
It is not clear if this was a bid to gain access to the site to either vandalise the memorial or steal iron fittings from the historic precinct.
With the municipal budget not being able to cover the repairs, it fell on Tourism Dundee to help fix the fence that surrounds the historic cenotaph, which last year celebrated its centenary in grand style.
Local history enthusiast and member of the Dundee Diehards group, Henry Bugden, has volunteered his services to ensure that historical sites are kept in good condition.
He previously cleaned up the historic graveyard at the Wesleyan Church, in which Boer and British soldiers are buried.
Henry can be contacted on 083 314 9164 should more information be required on what sites he can follow up with.
The Dundee, District and Mines Cenotaph (as it is officially known) was built to commemorate those men (and one woman) who made the supreme sacrifice; and was officially handed over on August 23, 1923.
It was erected by Messrs Crankshaw in Newcastle.
Read more:
Dundee Cenotaph to mark centenary
The statue is carved from white Italian Carrara marble, with a base of local sandstone. The cost of 1200 pounds was raised by public subscription, which was a great deal of money at the time.
The Cenotaph was refurbished in 2008, made possible by the efforts of many Dundee citizens.
Stuart Clarke, a former Dundee resident who now lives in California, was responsible for raising a large amount of the cash needed to do the job.
In 2016, the cenotaph was ‘upgraded’ mainly through the efforts of Tourism Dundee and Talana Museum.
More names, inadvertently left out, were added to include all those who perished in both World Wars, including a memorial stone to those who perished in the sinking of the SS Menzi (World War One) and all subsequent conflicts.
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