How many Thrybergh residents are aware of the significance and history of our very own unique ‘inland’ lighthouse? Most Thrybergh folk, and certainly the older generation will probably know that the ‘lighthouse’ situated outside the Parish Hall is a war memorial.
This memorial was originally constructed and erected adjacent to the Silverwood Colliery to commemorate the 312 local miners who were killed in the First World War. It was commissioned by the Dalton Main Colliery Ltd and officially unveiled on the 15th December 1923 by the Lord Bishop of Sheffield. Over 400 people paraded from the Colliery to the original memorial site located on a cliff edge near to the old Silverwood quarry. Four bugle players of the 5th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment played at the ceremony as well as the Silverwood Colliery band. The memorial is believed to be unique amongst the many memorials as its design was to represent a miner’s lamp. It was designed by local architect Lieutenant Colonel J.E.Knight.
A decision was taken in 1989 that the memorial would be relocated to its current position as the memorial had been badly defaced and the original bronze plaques stolen. It took 18 months work to complete the move to its current site in time for Armistice Day in 1990. This was no small operation as the stone base is 8 foot by 7 foot and the column 15 foot of rough Cornish stone. Replacement plaques listing the names of the dead from both WW1 and WW2 are now kept within the Parish Hall.
This year is the centenary of the start of World War 1. To mark the centenary Thrybergh Parish Council has purchased two wooden seats with special commemorative motifs. The new seats will be located in the vicinity of the war memorial. Hopefully the motifs will help prompt people using the seats to reflect for a moment upon those local men who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
Each year our local parish councils conduct remembrance services to remember all those local men and women who have lost their lives or have been injured in conflicts past and present.
