One Poppy

Just a year ago I visited the art installation at the Tower of London which commemorated the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. The installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red was made of ceramic poppies, one for each of the 888,246 men who perished in the British Army at that time. Tens of thousands of those who died were Irishmen.

Poppies flow from a window high above the moat

Tower of London at night

Seas of Red fill the Tower Moat

Poppies flow from the window – by night

Contrary to popular belief, Armistice Day continued to be observed in Ireland in the years and decades after the 1916 Rising. In 1926 for example an estimated 40,000 people turned out in Dublin in remembrance of fallen relatives and friends.

An estimated 40,000 attend Armistice Day commemorations in Dublin 1926

I was among the lucky ones who got to buy one of the ceramic poppies from the Tower of  London installation. It is now beautifully framed  and  stands in sorrowful remembrance of the pity of war.

One framed Poppy

 

 

Further details and more photos of the installation at The Tower of London in 2014 can be seen in my post Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.

Irish Poppy Pin