Adlington and District War Memorial

Summary

War memorial commemorating the First World War comprising a pylon with enclosed forecourt, set within a memorial garden, and with later names added.

Reasons for Designation

Adlington & District war memorial, which stands within a memorial garden on Railway Road, 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 sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20, and for the commemoration of a victim of the Quetta earthquake of 1935;
* Design: for its unusual form as an enclosed space and for the good quality original bronze inscription.

History

This is the war memorial for Adlington, Anderton, Heath Charnock and Rivington. In 1919 Adlington Urban District Council passed a resolution to erect a war memorial for those who lost their lives during the First World War. The cost of the memorial structure and incidental works was £940.00, which was raised by public subscription. The unveiling ceremony was carried out on Saturday 12th November 1927 by Lieut. Colonel H Parker DSO, commanding 4th Batt. Loyal North Lancs Regt, and the land was subsequently gifted to the Urban District Council by Mr James Herbert Sixsmith. The memorial is first marked on the 1:2500 map Epoch 3 for Lancashire (1928) in its current location. The inscribed stepped top to the pylon is probably original but might have been added after the Second World War. Four of the ten balustrade cappings are simpler concrete replacements of stolen stone originals. The memorial was restored in 2008-9 with the bronze plaques and the stone cleaned, and two bronze plaques added with additional names. These include a victim of the earthquake at Quetta, Balochistan (now part of Pakistan) in 1935, in which the RAF garrison was badly damaged.

Details

War memorial of 1927, designer unknown.

MATERIALS: buff sandstone with bronze plaques.

PLAN: a pylon with enclosed forecourt.

DESCRIPTION: set within a memorial garden lying adjacent to the road, between a chapel and public library. Forecourt: surrounded to the front and sides by a balustrade with a central entrance, and a rear wall. A chamfered stone plinth runs around all four sides. For the balustrade this is surmounted by square piers with chamfered and stopped corners and square caps with ball finials. Between the piers are amphora-shaped balusters with bases and capitals, and a moulded coping. Four of the ten pier cappings are simple concrete versions of the stone originals. The rear wall is of large regular coursed ashlar blocks with the same coping as the balustrade.

Pylon: built of regular coursed ashlar blocks. Stub walls project forwards at either side, carrying Tuscan columns with stepped entablature and moulded cornice above, surmounted by circular finials with ball tops. The top two courses step in and each comprise a single horizontal stone; the lower of these is inscribed ‘LEST WE FORGET’. The front faces of the stub walls are inscribed with, to the left, the year of outbreak and, to the right, the year of cessation of the two World Wars.

Between the columns a recess houses a tall bronze plaque. Beneath a garland of laurel leaves and poppies this bears the inscription:
IN GRATEFUL REMEM-/ -BRANCE OF THE MEN/ FROM ADLINGTON AND/ DISTRICT WHO FELL IN/ THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1918.
Below this are a shamrock, leek and rose, and a thistle, and the listed names of the fallen. Beneath the names there are three crosses, and the further inscription:
“TELL BRITAIN YE WHO/ MARK THIS MONUMENT/ FAITHFUL TO HER WE FELL/ AND REST CONTENT.”

Further plaques carrying the names of the fallen of the Second World War are fixed to the inner faces of the stub walls. The 2012 additions are fixed to the front of the rear wall, either side of the pylon. They carry previously omitted names, to the left of the First World War, and to the right of the Second World War and a victim of the Quetta earthquake in 1935, plus the inscription:
IN MEMORY OF ALL SERVICE PEOPLE, / PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE, / FROM, OR LAID TO REST IN, / ADLINGTON AND DISTRICT. / WE SHALL / REMEMBER THEM.

In total there are 143 names from the First World War and 61 from the Second World War.

EXCLUSIONS: Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that those pier caps and ball finials which have been replaced in concrete are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Websites
Local information, accessed 25/08/15 from http://adlingtonanddistrictinbloom.org.uk/wm.htm
War Memorials Online, accessed 25/08/15 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/node/112828
War Memorials Register, accessed 25/08/15 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/10679
Wikipedia - Balochistan Earthquake, accessed 25/08/15 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935_Balochistan_earthquake

End of official list entry

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