Unknown Man

In Memory Of An Unknown Man
Found Drowned at Abermawr
January 19, 1916.
"And He Shortened My Days In the Sea."

Tell me your story, Unknown Man.

What's to remember, if we didn't know you?

The anchor usually symbolizes a sailor. Were you one?

Your body was found during the Great War. When was this stone placed?

How much was left of you? What country were you from? Were you a young man, or not so young?

Inside the church there is a memorial plaque to Gilbert Burrington, husband of a wealthy local daughter who died at 37 in the Battle of the Somme ten months later, placed by his wife and son.

Was this stone placed because people of that moment in time well understood the feelings of people whose sons, fathers, and husbands did not return, even for burial? Otherwise why such a fine memorial for an absolute stranger?

The grave is placed off to the side by itself at Granston Church (St Catherine's), near Mathry, in Pembrokeshire, Wales.