Before Lutyens' involvement, several abandoned proposals had been made for commemorating Norwich's war dead, and by 1926 the newly elected lord mayor was determined to see the construction of a memorial before he left office.

He commissioned Lutyens, who designed an empty tomb (cenotaph) atop a low screen wall from which protrudes a Stone of Remembrance.

The work was completed in 2011, during which time the memorial was restored, having fallen into disrepair while it was closed off, and rotated to face the city hall rather than the marketplace.

Many towns and cities built memorials soon after the end of the First World War, but early attempts in Norwich proved abortive, each mired in controversy.

When Charles Bignold was elected Lord Mayor of Norwich in 1926, he was determined that the city would have a war memorial before he left office.

He took the initiative and commissioned Lutyens and the two men selected a site to the east of the Guildhall when the architect visited the city on 13 June 1927.

Protruding from the screen wall, beneath the coat of arms, is a Stone of Remembrance, the only one he designed to be integrated into a larger structure.

[5][9][10] Built into the structure were two metal caskets, one of which contained a list of Norwich's dead from the war and the contents of the second is unknown; the council decided that it would have been inappropriate to open it during restoration work.

The trustees changed their minds after improvements were made to the quality, and the roll of honour was installed in the castle on 13 January 1931 without ceremony as a result of embarrassment over the delay.

[13][14] General Sir Ian Hamilton presided over the memorial's unveiling on Sunday, 9 October 1927, at a ceremony attended by Lutyens.

Withers was selected at random after candidates were solicited from the city's ex-servicemen who met four criteria: that they were natives of Norwich; had enlisted prior to the implementation of conscription in 1916; had served overseas; and had been permanently disabled as a result of their service.

Withers enlisted on 1 September 1914 and fought in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915; after a bout of illness he rejoined his unit to fight in the First Battle of Gaza, where his battalion suffered heavy casualties.

The whole monument now stands on a terrace which runs parallel to the city hall, sloping towards Market Place with steps accommodating the gradient.

Two flagpoles stand at the corners, at the bases of which are low relief brass carvings of allegorical figures of Peace and Plenty.

The memorial remained fenced off for seven years and fell into disrepair as the city council lacked the funds to carry out the necessary repairs, though access was granted to representatives of the Royal British Legion to lay wreaths during Remembrance Sunday services.

[18] Repair work commenced on the garden and undercroft in early 2008—the beams and columns supporting the terrace having become dangerously weak—and was scheduled to take three years to complete.

A third stone was planned to be laid in 2018 for Lance Corporal Ernest Seaman, the third and final Norwich-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, a century after the action for which he was decorated.