Stone of Remembrance The Stone of Remembrance was designed by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Imperial War Graves Commission ( IWGC ) . It was designed to commemorate the dead of World War I , to be used in IWGC war cemeteries containing 1000 or more graves , or at memorial sites commemorating more than 1000 war dead . Hundreds were erected following World War I , and it has since been used in cemeteries containing the Commonwealth dead of World War II as well . It is intended to commemorate those " of all faiths and none " , and has been described as one of Lutyens ' " most important and powerful works " , with a " brooding , sentinel - like presence wherever used " . Design . The initial thoughts for the design were sent by Lutyens in letters and memoranda in May and August 1917 to Fabian Ware , the founder and head of the Imperial War Graves Commission , before and after the period in which Lutyens and other architects visited the wartime cemeteries in France in July 1917 at the request of Ware , to give their initial thoughts on what should be done to commemorate the dead : Part of the design is the three - stepped platform on which each stone rests . Architectural historian Gavin Stamp , in " Silent Cities " ( 1977 ) , quotes further from Lutyen ' s 1917 correspondence with Ware , where Lutyens describes the proposed stone as : In a later work in 2006 , Stamp identifies a similarly abstract and geometrical concept that was part of Lutyens ' creative process , citing a letter that Lutyens wrote to his wife while on the July 1917 visit to France , describing how a ' solid ball of bronze ' could be used to make a permanent monument . By the time of Ware ' s 1937 report , published as " The Immortal Heritage " the same year , some 560 Stones of Remembrance had been erected for World War I cemeteries and memorials in France and Belgium alone . Symbolism . The Stone of Remembrance is one of the standard architectural features of Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and memorials , the other being the Cross of Sacrifice by Reginald Blomfield . In contrast , the design for the Stone deliberately avoided " shapes associated with particular religions " . The shape of the Stone has been compared both to that of a sarcophagus and an altar , but was always intended to be abstract and appeal to all denominations . There was , however , controversy over the symbolism , both during the design and approval process and subsequently . Lutyens and those supporting the concept of secular architecture and equality of remembrance ( including Ware ) had to contend with those ( including other architects advising the Commission and Anglican bishops ) who wanted the overt Christian symbolism of a cross , or who objected to the pagan overtones of the proposed Stone . Lutyens corresponded with a wide variety of people to gain support for his idea . Eventually ( by January 1918 ) , the decision to use both Cross and Stone was taken , and the two designs were adopted in different ways . Blomfield ' s Cross was built in different sizes according to the size of the cemetery , with Lutyens ' Stone staying the same size but not being used in the smaller cemeteries ( of less than 1000 burials ) where it was thought it would overwhelm the setting . Geometry . The geometry of the stone structure was " based on studies of the Parthenon " . Each stone is 3 . 5 metres long and 1 . 5 metres high . It was designed using the principle of entasis . This involved incorporating subtle curves into the design , so that the stone does not have straight sides , but has circular lines that if extended would form a sphere 1 , 801 feet and 8 inches in diameter . The effect of the stone monument has been attributed to its geometry : " . . . its curious power and symbolic strength derive from its careful proportions and the application of a subtle entasis to all its surfaces . " Inscription . The phrase inscribed on the stone , one of several suggested during the design phase , was proposed by the British author , poet and Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling , whose only son had died in the war . Kipling ' s role was to advise the IWGC on inscriptions and other literary matters , and the phrase used on the Stones of Remembrance is a quote from the Wisdom of Sirach .