Armistice 2018 – Salisbury Cathedral’s Falling Poppies

Falling Poppies Tumble Down Salisbury Cathedral

‘Falling Poppies’ will tumble down the west front of Salisbury Cathedral from dusk til 11.30pm until Armistice Day.

The Dean of Salisbury, the Very Revd Nick Papadopoulos will formally switch on the Royal British Legion Poppies installation at 6.30pm this evening.

Find Armistice events near you.

Inside, the Cathedral are 100 puttees – a long strip of cloth representing the lower leg wrappings worn by soldiers in two World Wars – with poppies up and down them which will be on display until the 25th November 2018.

To commemorate the end of WW1, local artist Suzie Gutteridge and Salisbury Cathedral secured funding through the Heritage Lottery Fund to bring the Binding the Past to the Present Through Remembrance Exhibition to the Cathedral.

Suzie has worked with community groups over a number of months to create this poignant installation which is made up of two potent symbols of Remembrance: the puttees and red poppies.

One hundred puttees hang, decorated with thousands of hand-crafted poppies as a moving tribute to those who lost their lives in battle. The puttees for this exhibition were made by local firm Fox Brothers & Co Ltd, which is still trading.

There are over 5,000 felt flowers which have been hand made by people at 15 community workshops.

It is part of Salisbury’s events to mark the Centenary of the Armistice.