Location:

Devon, UK

Status:

Complete

Scale:

0.5 hectares

Constraints:

Commando training facility

Lympstone Memorial

Commemorating all marines, regardless of rank, killed on operations since 2000

Baca Architects were commissioned in 2007 to design a new war memorial for the Royal Marines to commemorate all marines, regardless of rank, killed on operations since 2000. The Memorial is located at the Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Lympstone, Devon – the spiritual home of all modern Royal Marines.

Baca worked closely with the Royal Marines Trustees to identify the most appropriate site and develop a befitting memorial design. The ‘memorial wall’ is a striking granite rock set into a bank on the grounds and facing resolutely into the wind driven up the mouth of the River Exe.

At the apex of the wall a void is created. This gap, represents a missing body of stone, symbolises the missing bodies of Marines lost at sea or that could not be recovered. Contrasting rough and smooth stone finishes on either side of the wall represents the transformation that all trainees go through before being honed from a civilian into a marine.

The names of the Marines killed in action are cast into metal plaques, emblazoned with the Marines globe and laurel insignia. The plaques will then be fixed into the memorial wall in a diamond pattern. The memorial wall will slowly be covered by nameplates until the inside face is covered.