*VIRTUAL TOUR - The Somme Offensive Continued*

Ulster Memorial Tower


On the 17th November 1919, a few days after the first anniversary of the Armistice of the 11th November 1918, a meeting was held at the Old Town Hall in Belfast. A discussion took place about the proposals for a Memorial to be situated on the 1st July 1916 Battlefield, where so many Ulstermen had lost their lives. The decision was made to build a Monument in the form of a well-known Ulster landmark. The Ulster Memorial Tower was the first official Memorial to be erected on the Western Front, and was dedicated on the 19th November 1921. The Memorial Tower is a replica of the well-known tower in Ulster, Northern Ireland, called Helen's Tower; Helen's Tower is located on the Dufferin and Ava Estate at Clandeboye, County Down.

It was in the shadow of Helen’s Tower that the Men of the newly formed Ulster Division drilled and trained on the outbreak of the Great War. For many of the Men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, the unique sight of Helen’s Tower rising above the surrounding countryside was one of their last abiding memories of home, before their departure for England, and subsequently the Western Front. It stands on what was the German Frontline during the Somme Offensive, July to November 1916. It was erected on the site of the Schwaben Redoubt, a strongly fortified position, which the Ulster Division eventually captured from the enemy. It is opposite Thiepval Wood from where the 36th (Ulster) Division made its historic charge on the 1st July 1916, and around one mile from the village of Thiepval. The Tower stands around 70 feet tall, and is a lasting tribute to the Men of Ulster who gave their lives during the Great War. The Tower is regarded explicitly as a Memorial to the Officers and Troops of the 36th (Ulster) Division, and of the Sons of Ulster in other forces, who laid down their lives, and of all their Comrades-in-Arms, who, by divine grace, were spared to testify to their glorious deeds. Its position on the Battlefield is a permanent reminder of the Division’s heroic charge during the Thiepval Battle in the Somme, on the opening day of that great Offensive.

Renovated Trench



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