Desborough War Memorial

Summary

First World War memorial, with additions for later conflicts.

Reasons for Designation

Desborough War Memorial, north of the Anglican and Methodist Church of St Giles, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on this local community, and the sacrifice it has made in the conflicts of the C20 and C21;
* Design: a substantial granite monolith;
* Historic association: within a war memorial garden dedicated during the First World War;
* Group value: with the Grade I-listed Anglican and Methodist Church of St Giles and the Services Club (Grade II).

History

As recorded on a bronze plaque attached to a corner post, the land laid out as a war memorial garden was given to the town in 1916 by the Desborough Industrial and Provident Co-operative Society as an open space in perpetuity.

The war memorial was presumably erected soon after the end of the war. The title deeds of the war memorial were given by the Co-Operative Society to Desborough Urban Council in March 1931. Plaques recording the names of servicemen who died during the Second World War and more recently in Afghanistan were added at a later date.

Details

Desborough War Memorial stands in a war memorial garden at the junction of Lower Street and High Street, to the north of the Grade I-listed Anglican and Methodist Church of St Giles and opposite the Services Club (Grade II). The monument comprises a 4m high granite monolith, four-sided and slightly tapering. The memorial stands on a raised grass surround, around which runs a low iron railing supported on short granite posts.

To the front of the monolith a bronze plaque carries the inscription 1914-1919/ THEIR NAME LIVETH/ FOR EVERMORE. Bronzes plaques on either side bear the names of the town’s 116 First World War dead. On the rear face are bronze plaques commemorating those who fell in the Second World War and a stone plaque dedicated to those who have fallen in later conflicts. That bears the inscription IN MEMORY OF THOSE/ WHO HAVE DIED ON DUTY/ IN THE ARMED SERVICES POST 1945/ (1 NAME).

Three flower beds defined by iron railings, contemporary with the memorial, run in a semi-circle behind it. At the north-west corner of the memorial garden stands the granite post with the bronze plaque recording the garden’s gift to the town.

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, 17 January 2017.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Trust, War Memorials Online, accessed 16/02/2015 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/node/184803
War Memorials Register, accessed 17 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/14865
War Memorials Online, accessed 17 January 2016 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/184803

Other
“Country Notes and District News” The Northampton Mercury, 13 March 1931, p3

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