aberdare cenotaph
Posted by on the 31st March 2010
hi can anyone tell me why there's a cenotaph in aberdare ?
there's only two in britain one is in whitehall london and the other is in aberdare , all other monuments are war memorials , did the architect lutyens have any connections to aberdare
as its such a small place to put one .thanks
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check it out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenotaph#The_Cenotaph.2C_Belfast
From what I understand, that's not quite correct. The Aberdare cenotaph is an exact replica of the one in Whitehall. That does not mean the others are not called cenotaphs.
Check out Blackwood Gwent also a small community they have a Cenotaph not being a war memorial
people call all other war memorial cenotaphs as a generic term but only whitehall and aberdare are true cenotaphs
It's a long established myth that the cenotaph in London and the one in Aberdare are exact replicas. This is not true. You only need to look at them and compare to see that. How this myth came about I've no idea, but it's also been said that the Aberdare version was a forerunner for the London model. I doubt that story as well.
One thing that's always been at the back of mind though is that the difference between a cenotaph and a war memorial is that the cenotaph is an empty tomb, as that is what cenotaph means in Greek. A war memorial on the other hand contains perhaps the body of the unknown soldier. Does anyone know if that is right?
cenotaph
n cenotaph [ˈsenətaːf]
a monument to a person or people buried elsewhere, especially a monument built in memory of soldiers etc killed in war.
As previously stated a cenotaph is erected as a war memorial and there are several throughout the UK which are true cenotaphs see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenotaph#Cenotaphs_in_the_United_Kingdom
Manchester and Belfast also have cenotaphs.
Its like people reffering to vaccum cleaning as Hoovering, Most cleaners are not Hoovers its a generic term, the same principle applies to lots of everyday activities/places etc.
I think this is why most people call it the Cenotaph ??
I've just seen this post. With all due respect, quoting wiki as a reference is akin to making up an answer and then saying "I told you so".
I reference an article entitled “The Cenotaph” issued by The Royal British Legion’s ‘Poppy Press: 1918-2008: The Great War – 90 years on” released autumn 2008, which states: “There are only two Cenotaphs in Britain; the other one is in Aberdare, Wales. All other monuments to the fallen are war memorials.”