Elusive memorial
Sir: Further to Richard West's excellent article on 'The myth of 1916' (1 December): myths require that physical as well as historical facts be forgotten.
Memorials to the few heroes of 1916 abound, but the visitor to Dublin seeking the Irish National War Memorial has to be determined, for it is not marked on any tourist map, nor is it signposted. It lies in a remote park on the south side of the River Liffey, cut off from Phoenix Park opposite because the connecting bridge which its architect, Lutyens, designed as an integral part of the scheme has never been built. This memorial is as much a piece of gentle, formal gardening as monumental architecture; today the fountains are silent and clogged with litter, the pergolas derelict, the woodwork rotting, the stonework damaged and daubed with graffiti.
This memorial was built in 1933-40 and partly paid for by the Irish government. Carved on its walls, in two languages, is the legend that it commemorates 49,000 Irishmen .vho died in the Great War of 1914-1918. Every one of them fought for the King; every one of them was a volunteer.
Gavin Stamp 2 St Alphege House, Pocock Street, London SE1
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