Brierfield Cenotaph

Colne Street, Brierfield, Lancashire, BB9 5HW

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

Overview

First World War memorial, 1921, with additions for the Second Boer War and the Second World War. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1427577
Date first listed:: 23-Jul-2015
List Entry Name:: Brierfield Cenotaph
Statutory Address:: Colne Street, Brierfield, Lancashire, BB9 5HW

User submitted image — Uploaded by War Memorials Online This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1427577
Date first listed:: 23-Jul-2015
List Entry Name:: Brierfield Cenotaph
Statutory Address 1:: Colne Street, Brierfield, Lancashire, BB9 5HW

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:: Colne Street, Brierfield, Lancashire, BB9 5HW

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

County:: Lancashire
District:: Pendle (District Authority)
Parish:: Brierfield
National Grid Reference:: SD8470736531

Summary

First World War memorial, 1921, with additions for the Second Boer War and the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Brierfield Cenotaph, situated in front of Brierfield Library and the Town Hall, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historic Interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflicts of the C20; * Sculpture: for the well-executed bronze lion,by Walter or Donald Gilbert; * Group Value: with Brierfield Town Hall (Grade II) and Brierfield Methodist Church (Grade II).

History

Brierfield Cenotaph was designed by A Barraclough of the firm of Messrs Barraclough and Sanders, Lancaster and was executed by Thomas Dent of Nelson. The bronze lion is signed Gilbert. Although not confirmed, it is likely that this is the work of either noted sculptor Walter Gilbert (1871-1945) or his son Donald Gilbert RSBS (1900-61).

Walter Gilbert was founder and Director of the Bromsgrove Guild and, from 1918, assistant manager of H H Martyn and Co Ltd. He was responsible for war memorials including those at Eccleston, Morley, Towneley and Crewe (all Grade II-listed), the memorial to the Fifth (Royal Irish) Lancers at Mons, and the Doiran war memorial (Greece). Donald Gilbert’s work includes busts of Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Henry Wood and John Logie Baird. Father and son collaborated at H H Martyn and Co Ltd, arranging and executing works in association with the chief modeller Louis Weingartner.

Originally the memorial was placed in front of the Town Hall, where it was unveiled by T Veevers JP on 17 June 1921, and dedicated by Henry Henn, the Lord Bishop of Burnley and the Reverend T Smith of St Luke’s Church, Brierfield. The names of those servicemen from Brierfield who died fighting during the Second World War and Second Boer War were later added to the memorial. The memorial was moved c30m to its present position in front of the library in 1951. In 2010, following conservation work, two names were added to the memorial and it was enclosed by wrought iron railings, funded by the War Memorials Trust.

Details

Brierfield Cenotaph stands in a paved area in front of the town’s public library, in a square which used to be the Market Place. The memorial comprises a tall stone pylon rising from a two-stepped base. Two large, rectangular stone blocks surmount the pylon. Towards the top of the pylon a bronze wreath ornaments the front face, below which is a stone plaque carved IN MEMORIAM/ 1914 – 1918/ 1939 – 1945. The base of the pylon is buttressed on either side. In front a square base supports a bronze sculpture of a lion. Three stone steps, with an iron handrail decorated with painted torches, poppies and a dove, lead up to the front of the cenotaph.

The names of the men who died in the First World War are inscribed on the three faces of the base which supports the lion. In addition the inscription '1939-1945' appears on the reverse of the cenotaph’s column, with the names of the men who died in the Second World War carved below. The foot of the south buttress bears three names and a dedication to the Second Boer War. All inscriptions are incised and painted black.

Stone flower pots stand in the concave corners of the memorial’s base. The memorial is surrounded by iron railings decorated with painted poppies and the town’s coat of arms.

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, 2 February 2017.

Sources

Websites
Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 (Walter Gilbert), accessed 26/05/2015 from http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1217252088
Medhurst, P. (2009) An expanded inventory of architectural sculpture arranged and executed by Walter Gilbert (1861-1946), Louis Weingartner and Donald Gilbert under the auspices of the Bromsgrove Guild and H. H. Martyn & Co. of Cheltenham, England, accessed 26/05/2015 from https://archive.org/details/WalterGilbert
War Memorials Online, accessed 2 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/112905
War Memorials Register, accessed 2 February 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/10597
War Memorials Trust, Grants Showcase - Brierfield, accessed 26/05/2015 from http://www.warmemorials.org/search-grants/?gID=880
Other
“Brierfield War Memorial Now Complete”, Express and Advertiser, 18 June 1921, p15

Legal

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