The Tower is a replica of a well-known Ulster landmark, Helen's Tower, which stands on the Dufferin and Ava Estate at Clandeboye, County Down.
On the completion of Helen's Tower in 1867 Lord Dufferin dedicated it to his beloved mother Helen, Baroness Dufferin, who was the granddaughter of the playwright Richard Brindsley Sheridan.
It was in the shadow of Helen's Tower that the men of the newly formed Ulster Division drilled and trained on the outbreak of the war.
For many of the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division the distinctive sight of Helen's Tower rising above the surrounding countryside was one of their last abiding memories of home before their departure for England, and subsequently, the Western Front.
The inscription on the Tablet in the Memorial Chamber of the Tower reads: ‘This Tower is dedicated to the Glory of God in grateful memory of the Officers, non-commissioned Officers and Men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, and of the sons of Ulster in other forces who laid down their lives in The Great War, and of all their comrades-in-arms, who by divine grace were spared to testify to their glorious deeds’.
Many of those killed in the fighting are buried in the Connaught and Mill Road Cemeteries located nearby.
The 36th (Ulster) Division Memorial is north west of the village of Thiepval on the road to Hamel.
