A one-and-a-half metre high teardrop will be central to a new Peace Garden due to open in Bury St Edmunds later this month.

The Memorial Garden Trust, a registered charity, has raised more than £11,000 for the project in the Abbey Gardens.

It will be situated on the spot where an annual service takes place to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.

The occasion gives people a chance to pause to remember the millions of people who were murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition as a result of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution or in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Rob Lock, from the garden trust, said: “In addition to providing a more dignified setting for the annual holocaust service, the Peace Garden is also designed to commemorate the murder of 57 Jews in our town on Palm Sunday, March 19, 1190.

“It is an event in our town’s history that the Trust felt needed to be publicly acknowledged.

“The teardrop is a natural and universal symbol of pity and persecution, of human suffering and sorrow.

“It is made from polished stainless steel, its mirrored surface reflects back to us the role we all must play in opposing humanity’s inhumanity.” The Peace Garden, which is being installed by Urban Forestry, also includes 57 cobble stones –one for each of the victims of the 1190 massacre.

There will also be two stone benches for quiet reflection. The trust was formed by local residents and is supported by St Edmundsbury Borough Council, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and members of Suffolk’s Jewish Community.

Reverend Canon Matthew Vernon will lead this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day Service on January 27 at 10.30am in Abbey Gardens.