Ulster Tower, Thiepval

The Ulster Tower at Thiepval is modelled on Helen’s tower overlooking Newtownards, Co. Down, on the Clandeboye estate where the 9th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers (mainly men from Armagh, Monaghan and Cavan) and other units trained in 1914/15.

Plaque at entrance to the Ulster Tower

The Tower commemorates the men of the 36th Ulster Division and all those from the nine counties of Ulster who served in the First World War. The memorial was officially opened on 19th November 1921. At the entrance to the Tower is a plaque commemorating the names of the nine men of the Division who won the Victoria Cross during the Somme.

Remembering the members of the 36th Ulster Division decorated for their bravery at the Somme

There is also a memorial here commemorating the part played by members of the Orange Order during the battle. The inscription on this memorial reads: “This Memorial is Dedicated to the Men and Women of the Orange Institution Worldwide, who at the call of King and country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger, and finally passed out of the sight of man by the path of duty and self sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in Freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.”

Orange Order memorial behind the Ulster Tower

Explanatory plaque for the Orange Order memorial