Summary
War Memorial statue and wall, 1922 by John Alfred Gotch.
History
The historic core of Hinckley centres around The Borough and its connecting streets, with St Mary’s Church to the south-east. A settlement existed in Hinckley during Roman times, but the origins of today's town are a Saxon village called Hinca's Leah. In the C12 a priory and a Norman motte-and-bailey castle were built in the village, and by the C13 it had grown into a small market town, centred around The Borough, with Stockwell Head and Castle Street stretching to the east and Coventry Street or Duck Paddle Street (now Regent Street) to the south-west. In 1640 the first stocking frame was brought to Hinckley, marking the beginning of the stocking weaving industry which was to dominate the town for over two hundred years. Hinckley prospered on the success of this industry, and many of the surviving buildings of the historic core date to the rebuilding and modernising of the town centre carried out in the C17 and C18. The arrival of the South Leicestershire Railway in 1862 allowed the stocking industry to expand with steam-powered frames and large factories, and the corresponding prosperity allowed the town to expand significantly beyond its historic core. The wider town is now characterised by the C19 houses and civic architecture erected during this time of expansion.
The memorial garden sits within the original bailey of the Norman castle at Hinckley, now within Argents Mead Park. Built by the mid-C12, Hinckley’s castle was unusual in that the bailey, as well as the motte, were built on a substantial artificial mound. The motte was on a taller mound to the north, subsequently removed and obscured by development. The castle was in decay by 1361 and only earthworks remained by 1622. In 1760 the motte was levelled and in 1770 a large house called Castle Hill House was built on the site of the motte with the bailey altered and landscaped to form part of the garden of the house. In 1920 these gardens were acquired from the then-owners, the Hinckley Co-operative Society, as the site for Hinckley’s war memorial. The foundation stone was laid on 12 November 1921 by Mrs Attenborough, Mrs Dixon, and Mrs Orton, all of whom lost sons in the war. The finished memorial was unveiled on 20 May 1922 by Colonel RE Martin CMG and dedicated by the Bishop of Peterborough. Castle Hill House was demolished in 1976.
The architect chosen for the war memorial was John Alfred Gotch, from Gotch and Saunders of Kettering. Gotch was a well-regarded architectural historian as well as an accomplished architect, and his buildings, many of which were in Edwardian or Jacobean style, reflect his expertise and his skill. Gotch was a significant figure in the architectural profession, holding many significant roles including president of the Architectural Association, and later vice-president and then president of the Royal Institute for British Architects. The memorial pillar exhibits many of the motifs and styles favoured by Gotch, notably Elizabethan/Jacobean-style strapwork relief. The sculptor of the bronze ‘Angel of Mercy’ at the top of the pillar was Allan Gairdner Wyon. Better known for his designs of medals, the Wyon was also an accomplished sculptor, specialising in memorials. Gotch designed the war memorial and pillar together to form a unified whole – the pillar acts as the gnomon of a sundial, so that the shadow of the upraised hands of the Angel of Mercy passes from left to right along the list of names throughout the month of November, falling, it is said, onto the relief cross at the heart of the memorial wall on the eleventh hour of the eleventh month.
Further names were added to the memorial wall following the second world war, and subsequent ‘addendum plaques’ were added in 2003 and 2014.
Details
War Memorial statue and wall, 1922 by John Alfred Gotch.
MATERIALS: limestone pillar and wall, the pillar is topped with a patinated bronze statue of the Angel of Mercy.
DESCRIPTION: the pillar has an octagonal shaft on three steps with moulded base and inscription 'TO KEEP IN MIND THOSE FROM THIS PLACE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914 -1919'. Above the inscription is a bulbous band with an inscribed strapwork frieze of crosses with central roundels carrying the octagonal corniced base of the shaft. The top of the shaft is decorated with a strapwork frieze below a moulded cornice, and above this the statue stands on a smaller octagonal pedestal flanked by four square pillars or ‘antae’. The statue itself is a robed female figure of the Angel of Mercy in bronze, representing peace. She wears a laurel wreath around her head and both her hands are held out ‘as if in the act of blessing’.
Standing to the north of the memorial statue is a wall on bolection moulded base reached by a wide flight of limestone steps. The central section of the wall is divided into seven panels, the three to the left and to the right being filled with bronze panels with the names of those lost in the first world war in relief. The central panel contains a simple inscribed stone cross. A band below the names is inscribed with 'THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR'. Above the names, the inscription 'THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVER MORE' is carved into the frieze. At the foot of the wall, bronze panels record the names of those who died in the Second World War. To the left and right of the wall, further plaques have been added, including the names of Hinckley residents lost to terrorist action since the Second World War.
