War Memorial at Twyford Road, Barrow-upon-Trent

Summary

A war memorial and its surrounding walls commissioned and erected at Twyford Road, Barrow-upon-Trent in Derbyshire during the Great War to record the names of the men of the village who volunteered to serve in the armed forces, rather than to commemorate those who lost their lives.

Reasons for Designation

The War Memorial and its surround wall at Twyford Road, Barrow-Upon-Trent in Derbyshire are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on a local community, and to the scale of the contribution made by the population of Barrow-upon-Trent, in relation to its size, during the conflict of 1914-1919;

* Design: as a carefully-designed and well-executed memorial with high-quality sculptural and lettering content;

* Rarity: as an uncommon example of a memorial commissioned and erected during the Great War to record the names of men who volunteered to serve in the armed forces, rather than to commemorate those who lost their lives.

History

The War Memorial at Twyford Road In Barrow-upon-Trent was unveiled and dedicated by the Duke of Devonshire on the 24th June 1916, during the second year of the Great War. The memorial is unusual in that it record the names of men in the village who had enlisted, rather than those who had lost their lives in the conflict. In 1915, Mr F.C. Arkwright of Willersley Hall, Matlock, the great-grandson of Sir Richard Arkwright, had organised a competition for a number of Derbyshire villages, to determine which village had provided the greatest number of volunteers, with the prize of a memorial cross for the winning village. Barrow-upon Trent provided the highest number of recruits in proportion to its population of any Derbyshire village, and was declared the winner of the competition. The War Memorial was designed and executed by Haswell and Son, masons, of Chester, and erected on a site provided by Mr J Eadie, a Burton-upon-Trent brewer who owned land in the village. In 2014, the memorial was re-dedicated by the present Duke of Devonshire. The names of men who gave their lives in the Great War are recorded on a memorial tablet in the village church of St Wilfrid.

Details

The War Memorial is sited on the south side of Twyford Road, and stands on a raised paved area enclosed on three sides by a low stone wall. The memorial is made of a fine-grained sandstone and takes the form of a Celtic cross with interlace decoration at the head of a tapered shaft. The cross and shaft are mounted on a triple-stepped base, the deep upper step with carved decoration, and the lower two steps with inscriptions. The carved decoration to the upper step is based upon the reference in St Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians and the emblematic armour and weaponry with which the faithful could arm and defend themselves, which later became the emblems of the Knights Hospitallers.

The north face of the step depicts 'The Breastplate of Righteousness', the west face 'The Shield of Faith', the south face 'The Helmet of Salvation' and the east face 'The Sword of The Spirit'. The middle step is inscribed with names of the men of Barrow-upon-Trent who volunteered for service, and the lower step carries the inscription:

'IN HONOUR OF THE MEN OF BARROW-ON-TRENT WHO VOLUNTARILY SERVED THEIR KING AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR OF NATIONS 1914-1919. THIS CROSS IS ERECTED BY FREDERIC CHARLES ARKWRIGHT OF WILLERSLEY IN THIS COUNTY A.D. MDCCCCXVI'.

The stepped base rises from a low stepped four-part plinth, the second step with an inscription which reads: 'FOR GOD/ FOR KING/ FOR COUNTRY'. On the inner face of the west section of the enclosure wall is a plaque commemorating the re-dedication of the War Memorial in 2014 by the Duke of Devonshire.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 25 January 2017.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 25 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/14297

End of official list entry

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