Your Heritage
The Diamond War Memorial had traditionally been viewed by the Nationalist community as ‘belonging to the other side’. It was often vandalised, and the gated space was kept locked.
The project aimed to:
- Research the history of those who fell in the First World War, including their cultural, religious and political backgrounds
- Run community workshops and schools programmes
- Make the information found more widely accessible
The project created a shared public space centring on the memorial, for the two communities, reflecting the two cultural, religious and political traditions within the city.
Research into the stories behind the names on the memorial resulted in two publications and a website. This research showed that the dead of both communities were represented in almost equal numbers, and uncovered the names of 400 men who were never commemorated.
The gates to the memorial area were unlocked and remain so, making a powerful statement about the importance of the space, which local people now use regularly.