Work starts on Wilfred Owen memorial revamp in Shrewsbury
Work has started to spruce up a memorial in Shrewsbury to Shropshire's famous Great War poet Wilfred Owen after the success of a fundraising appeal.
Specialists Taylor Pearce moved in this week and the revamp is expected to be finished on Thursday, September 24.
The memorial in the grounds of Shrewsbury Abbey, called Symmetry, was inaugurated in June 1993 but is showing the effects of ageing and weathering. Early this year the Wilfred Owen Association launched an appeal to spruce it up.
Designed by Paul de Monchaux, the pale granite abstract structure, which also doubles as a bench, is carved with the inscription “I am the enemy you killed my friend.”
It is hoped that when conditions permit there will be a second unveiling involving, as in 1993, children from the Wilfred Owen School in the town.
Owen, who was born in Oswestry, later lived in Shrewsbury. He was killed in action just one week before the end of the conflict in 1918.
