Tower of London poppies
A sea of red is rapidly filling the dry moat surrounding the Tower of London.
From August 5 to November 11, one poppy if being planted for each of the 888,246 British and Colonial soldiers killed during the First World War filling 16 acres of grass moat – 50 poppies per square meter!
The poppies have been created by the ceramic artist Paul Cummins, inspired by a line in the will of a Derbyshire man who joined up in the earliest days of the war and died in Flanders.
The strangest part of the tower's wartime history was that it stayed open throughout as a tourist attraction: where visitors now stand looking down on the poppies, or gathering to hear the Last Post played at dusk each evening, their predecessors watched the new soldiers being trained before being shipped off to the front, many never to return.
The poppies will remain in place November 11 – Armistice Day –and will then be sold for £25 each, which is planned to raise more than £15m for service charities.
© Roger Wasley 2014 all rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited.
Tower of London poppies
A sea of red is rapidly filling the dry moat surrounding the Tower of London.
From August 5 to November 11, one poppy if being planted for each of the 888,246 British and Colonial soldiers killed during the First World War filling 16 acres of grass moat – 50 poppies per square meter!
The poppies have been created by the ceramic artist Paul Cummins, inspired by a line in the will of a Derbyshire man who joined up in the earliest days of the war and died in Flanders.
The strangest part of the tower's wartime history was that it stayed open throughout as a tourist attraction: where visitors now stand looking down on the poppies, or gathering to hear the Last Post played at dusk each evening, their predecessors watched the new soldiers being trained before being shipped off to the front, many never to return.
The poppies will remain in place November 11 – Armistice Day –and will then be sold for £25 each, which is planned to raise more than £15m for service charities.
© Roger Wasley 2014 all rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited.