Charlesworth War Memorial

Summary

A war memorial commemorating the fallen of the two World Wars sited in a prominent location at the main road junction in the village of Charlesworth, Derbyshire.

Reasons for Designation

The war memorial, located at the junction of Town Lane and Glossop Road, in Charlesworth is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and the sacrifices it has made in the conflicts of the C20.
* Architectural interest: the memorial was erected in the great age of memorial building in the aftermath of the First World War, when simple, dignified designs such as the Charlesworth memorial eloquently conveyed the massive sense of loss felt in so many parts of the country.

History

The concept of commemorating war dead did not develop to any great extent until towards the end of the C19. Prior to then memorials were rare and were mainly dedicated to individual officers, or sometimes regiments. The first large-scale erection of war memorials dedicated to the ordinary soldier followed the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, which was the first major war following reforms to the British Army which led to regiments being recruited from local communities and with volunteer soldiers. However, it was the aftermath of the First World War that was the great age of memorial building, both as a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

The War Memorial at Charlesworth in Derbyshire was unveiled on the 6th April 1920 by a prominent local resident, Major S.Hill Woods, to commemorate the fallen of the First World War. The memorial is believed to have been funded by public subscription, co-ordinated by Charlesworth Parish Council.

Details

War memorial commemorating the fallen of the First and Second World Wars, standing within an area paved with sandstone flagstones and bounded by stone kerbs at a road junction. The designer of the memorial has not been identified.

MATERIALS: the memorial is made of ashlar stone.

EXTERIOR: the memorial takes the form of a truncated tapered obelisk, rising from a deep plinth. The north and south faces of the plinth have a vertical curved projection to the centre of each face, and above, on the corresponding faces of the monument shaft are fixing holes. Both may have been used to secure flagpoles or another kind of commemorative fitting. The west face of the obelisk is inscribed with the names of members of the local community who died in the First World War with the inscription: 1914-1918/ IN MEMORY/ OF THE FALLEN/ OF THIS PARISH/ (Names)/ 1939-1945/ (names). The names of those lost in the Second World are added, on the corresponding face of the plinth below.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 25 January 2017.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 25 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/1469
War Memorials Online, accessed 25 January 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/154434

End of official list entry

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