Postal Workers' War Memorial

Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, Farringdon Road, London, EC1A 1BB

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

War memorial erected 1920 and moved to its present site in 2013. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1420357
Date first listed:: 04-Aug-2014
List Entry Name:: Postal Workers' War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, Farringdon Road, London, EC1A 1BB

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1420357
Date first listed:: 04-Aug-2014
List Entry Name:: Postal Workers' War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, Farringdon Road, London, EC1A 1BB

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, Farringdon Road, London, EC1A 1BB

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: Islington (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ3114082321

Summary

War memorial erected 1920 and moved to its present site in 2013.

Reasons for Designation

The Mount Pleasant war memorial, 1920, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: the First and Second World Wars often had an extreme impact on particular communities; this memorial illustrates that impact on the Western Postal District ; * Architectural interest: as a well-crafted memorial using good-quality materials of an elegant Classical design.

History

The memorial, commemorating London’s Western District postal workers who fell in the First World War, was erected in 1920 at the Wimpole Street Post Office. Funds were raised from the staff of the district, and the memorial was unveiled on New Year’s Day, 1920.

When the post office closed in 1981 the memorial was moved to the delivery offices at Rathbone Place, and then, on its closure in 2013 to the sorting offices and postal museum at Mount Pleasant.

Details

War memorial to postal workers, 1920.

MATERIALS: Portland stone.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial is in the form of an aedicule with Ionic columns and a broken semi-circular pediment. It frames a stone tablet inscribed with the names of 130 men. Within the tympanum is a gilt wreath and sword, inscribed within: ‘PRO PATRIA / ET LIBERTATE; a plaque beneath is inscribed: TO THE HONOURED MEMORY OF / OUR HEROIC COMRADES WHO FELL / IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919. The base is inscribed: ‘SUBSCRIBED FOR AND ERECTED BY THEIR COLLEAGUES / OF THE WESTERN POSTAL DISTRICT / AS A LASTING TRIBUTE TO THEIR SELF-SACRIFICE’. The plinth has a metal plaque commemorating those lost in the Second World War, inscribed ‘1939-1945’ with the names of 56 men.

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, 16 February 2017.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 16 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/194621
War Memorials Register, accessed 16 February 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/11374

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.