Armagh memorial to honour county’s fallen nears completion

Funded entirely by public donations, the 90ft long memorial wall in the grounds of Armagh city’s St Mark’s Church will be fitted with a number of marble tablets listing the names of 346 men and women who died as a direct result of terrorist activity.

All members of the police, regular Army, Ulster Defence Regiment and NI Prison Service who made the supreme sacrifice between the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 and 2001 will be honoured.

The organisation behind the lasting monument – the County Armagh Phoenix Group (CAPG) – said around one third of all police officers murdered during the Troubles, and almost a quarter of all military casualties, were in Co Armagh.

CAPG is appealing for assistance in identifying relatives of all those whose names will appear on the wall. The official unveiling is on track to take place in June this year.

A spokesman for the group said they had been “humbled by the generosity” of those who made donations towards the cost, and said some fundraising events will be held periodically to cover the cost of maintaining the memorial wall.

“The memorial will assure the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for peace that their loved ones have not, and will not, be forgotten – and that includes those widows and families on mainland UK who might not have any other commemorative memorial,” the group said when launching the project in 2016.

“The wall at St Mark’s will be somewhere that people can come to remember and reflect.”

The CAPG can be contacted at 3 Mallview Terrace, Armagh, BT61 9AN, by telephoning 028 3752 7802, or on email at [email protected]

Anyone wishing to support the project can do so through the CAPG website at www.armaghmemorial.org or by email: [email protected]