Odsey War Memorial
Station Road, Odsey, Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, SG7 5RR
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1440864
- Date first listed:
- 05-Dec-2016
- List Entry Name:
- Odsey War Memorial
- Statutory Address:
- Station Road, Odsey, Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, SG7 5RR
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1440864
- Date first listed:
- 05-Dec-2016
- List Entry Name:
- Odsey War Memorial
- Statutory Address 1:
- Station Road, Odsey, Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, SG7 5RR
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Station Road, Odsey, Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, SG7 5RR
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Cambridgeshire
- District:
- South Cambridgeshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Steeple Morden
- National Grid Reference:
- TL2963938800
Summary
First World War memorial with later additions for the Second World War.
Reasons for Designation
Odsey War Memorial 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: an elegant Stone of Remembrance displaying a high level of craftsmanship and good quality materials.
History
The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England, both as a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.
One such memorial was raised at Odsey as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.
Sir George Fordham, Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council paid to have it made and erected and it commemorated eight fallen local men.
It has been claimed that the memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens OM RA (1869-1944) as Sir George Fordham was a friend of Lutyens and may have commissioned him to design the memorial. Lutyens designed over fifty war memorials and the list can be found in Tim Skelton’s 2008 book Lutyens and the Great War. Odsey War Memorial may well have been a copy of Lutyens’ Cenotaph in Whitehall, the stripped down form of which was influential in the design of many other memorials elsewhere.
In recent times it was conserved and the names of those from Odsey who fell in the Second World War were added.
Details
First World War memorial with later additions for the Second World War.
MATERIALS: Portland stone.
DESCRIPTION: the memorial is located by the side of Station Road, outside no. 92 Station Road and it comprises a Stone of Remembrance set upon a single-stepped base.
The front face is inscribed with ODSEY/ IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT/ AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL/ IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1919/ FALLEN/ (NAMES)/ 1939 – 1945/ (NAMES).
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
Books and journals
Skelton, T, Gliddon, G, Lutyens and the Great War, (2008)
Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 21 Oct 2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/3564
War Memorials Online, accessed 17 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/201665
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 15:01:04.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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