Caernarfon war memorial

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Link to Welsh translationCaernarfon war memorial, Y Maes

This tall stone pillar was erected in 1922 as a memorial to the local men who died in the First World War. The names of people who died in the Second World War were added later.

To read their details, choose one of the categories below. We have included details of people who had connections with Caernarfon but are not named on the memorial. Among them is William Evan Thomas, who died while in the service of the French navy after his ship HMS Champagne was torpedoed in 1917.

The sole woman named on the memorial is Olga Hilton Parry, whose father was Dr W Hilton Parry of Castle Street. He received the Military Cross for gallantry while leading a team of stretcher bearers near the First World War front line in France. Olga was working as a nurse, aged 18, when she became one of the first victims of the Nazis’ flying-bomb raids on London. She was among the 16 patients and staff killed when a bomb hit her hospital on 17 June 1944, just days after the Allies had successfully established a foothold in France after the D-Day landings.

A sculpted Welsh dragon tops the cenotaph. Carved on one side is the shield of Royal Caernarfon Town. The castellated decorations around the top of the lower section refer to the architecture of the castle at the opposite end of Y Maes (Castle Square).

Plaques on two of the sides bear the title of each war in Welsh and the following dedication: “Arwyddlun serch ac edmygedd Caernarfon i gofio’r dewrion a aberthodd eu bywydau dros eu gwlad a’r brenin ar dir, ar fôr ac yn yr awyr.” This translates as: “A symbol of Caernarfon’s love and admiration in remembrance of the braves who sacrificed their lives for their country and king on land, on sea and in the air.”

Postcode: LL55 2ND    View Location Map

First World War surnames A-J

First World War surnames K-W

Second World War surnames A-W

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