Downend Boy Scouts' War Memorial
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1424745
- Date first listed:
- 26-Feb-2015
- List Entry Name:
- Downend Boy Scouts' War Memorial
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1424745
- Date first listed:
- 26-Feb-2015
- List Entry Name:
- Downend Boy Scouts' War Memorial
- Location Description:
- Badminton Road/Westerleigh Road, Downend, BS16 6BQ
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- South Gloucestershire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Downend and Bromley Heath
- National Grid Reference:
- ST6516176740
Summary
A war memorial, unveiled in November 1921 and built and possibly designed by Mr J Dawson (builder), commemorating boy scouts from the 1st Downend Troop who fell in the First World War.
Reasons for Designation
The Boy Scouts' War Memorial, Downend, South Gloucestershire 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 made in the conflicts of the C20;
* Architectural interest: as an accomplished and well-realised war memorial which takes the simple form of an obelisk with a cross finial.
History
The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. One such memorial was The Downend Boy Scout's War Memorial. The monument was unveiled in November 1921 and built by Mr J Dawson (builder). The 1st Downend troop of Boy Scouts was founded by Revd. Philip George Alexander. He is commemorated on the memorial and died when HMS Hampshire, on which he was chaplain, sank. The memorial has been moved from its original position. In 2005 it was refurbished.
Details
A war memorial, unveiled in November 1921 and built and possibly designed by Mr J Dawson (builder), commemorating boy scouts from the 1st Downend Troop who fell in the First World War. The monument is of rock-hewn stone with a bronze plaque and inset, bronze lettering.
The monument is in the form of an obelisk which rises from a plinth of two steps which rests on a square platform. To the apex is a stone cross. There is a deep, projecting string course roughly half way up the obelisk, with a cyma moulding to the underside and a curved upper surface. Above this on the south-west face is a circular plaque showing the Fleur-de-lis of the Boy Scouts movement. Below the string course is an inscription which reads ‘1st DOWNEND TROOP / BOY SCOUTS. / TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL / IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1919 / (Names)’. On the upper step of the plinth is inscribed ‘CALLED TO HIGHER SERVICE’.
The other sides of the monument are without decoration, save for the continuous string course.
This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 11 January 2017.
Sources
Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 11 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/7371
War Memorials Online, accessed 11 January 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/115932
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 13:46:22.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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