Salcombe War Memorial and Shelter

Summary

A First World War memorial and shelter, unveiled in 1921. Further names were added to the memorial following the Second World War. Only the section of Cliff Road wall within the blue mapped area is included in the listing.

Reasons for Designation

The Salcombe War Memorial and shelter 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;

* Architectural interest: it has an elegant wheel-cross memorial on an elevated position above a well-considered shelter;


* Context: its elevated position overlooking the Salcombe-Kingsbridge Estuary has added significance given its commemoration of the 1916 Salcombe lifeboat disaster.

History

Following the end of the First World War, a memorial was proposed to commemorate the residents of Salcombe who had died fighting in the conflict. The terraced land in front of Cliff House was donated by Mr A McIlwraith for the memorial. A shelter was erected, its roof serving as the base for the war memorial raising it level with the road. A public garden, with a network of paths was laid out on the terraced land below the memorial, accessed by pair of steps (not listed) leading down from street level. At the same time the road was widened to create a public thoroughfare. The memorial was unveiled on 7 April 1921. In addition to bearing the names of those who died during the First World War, it included a dedication to the Salcombe Lifeboat Disaster, in which 13 members of a 15 man lifeboat crew tragically died when their boat overturned while returning from a call to aid a grounded schooner at Lannacombe Bay on 27 October 1916. In 1949 further names were added to the plinth, and a set of decorative gates to the Cliff Road entrance, to commemorate those who had died during Second World War. Also added to the plinth were the names of the civilians who died during bombing raids on Salcombe between 1941-3. At this time a pair of memorial shelters were also erected within the public garden (not listed). The memorial plinth lettering was repaired and the commemorative iron gates underwent restoration in the early C21.

Details

A First World War memorial and shelter, unveiled in 1921. Further names were added to the memorial following the Second World War. Only the section of Cliff Road wall within the blue mapped area is included in the listing.

MATERIALS: granite memorial with black-painted lettering on polished granite surfaces, painted-metal gates, and rubble stone faced walls to the shelter below.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial cross stands in an elevated position above a contemporary flat-roofed shelter which looks out over the Salcombe-Kingsbridge Estuary. The memorial cross has a large, square base on a raised platform, with a two-tier plinth and a square shaft topped by a wheel cross. The north face of the plinth reads ‘THE MONUMENT IS ERECTED/ TO THE HONOURED MEMORY OF/ SALCOMBE MEN/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WARS/ 1914-1918 + 1939-1945/ AND THE THIRTEEN MEN LOST IN THE LIFEBOAT DISASTER OF OCTOBER 27th 1916’. The side faces of the plinth carry the names of the Fallen, and the south face bears the names of the lost lifeboat crew. The north face of the base includes the names of Fallen, both servicemen and civilians, from the Second World War. The memorial cross is surrounded by tubular-metal railings. A decorative, painted metal gate, attached to the low stone wall in front of the memorial, carries the dates of both the First and Second World Wars. The memorial cross stands on the roof of a shelter that is accessible from the garden below, with large stone archway on the south side and a round-arched window to both returns, within which is a seating area. To the rear of the shelter is a maintenance room.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 17 February 2017.

Sources

Websites
Salcombe War Memorial: Devon Heritage, accessed 26 August 2016 from http://www.devonheritage.org/Places/Salcombe/SalcombeWarMemorial1914-1918.htm
Salcombe War Memorial, accessed 26 August 2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/65489
War Memorials Online, accessed 17 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/211793

Other
Salcombe Memorial, Western Morning News, Saturday 9 April 1921
Salcombe Memorial, Western Morning News, Friday 13 May 1921
Salcombe War Memorial, Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Friday 11 November 1949

End of official list entry

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