St Paul's Walden War Memorial

Hitchin Road, Whitwell, North Hertfordshire

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

War memorial, unveiled c1920, dedicated to the men of the parish who fell in the First and Second World Wars. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1441308
Date first listed:: 06-Feb-2017
List Entry Name:: St Paul's Walden War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Hitchin Road, Whitwell, North Hertfordshire

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1441308
Date first listed:: 06-Feb-2017
List Entry Name:: St Paul's Walden War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: Hitchin Road, Whitwell, North Hertfordshire

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Hitchin Road, Whitwell, North Hertfordshire

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Hertfordshire
District:: North Hertfordshire (District Authority)
Parish:: St. Paul's Walden
National Grid Reference:: TL1885620914

Summary

War memorial, unveiled c1920, dedicated to the men of the parish who fell in the First and Second World Wars.

Reasons for Designation

St Paul’s Walden 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; * Group value: for its relationship with nearby listed buildings, including 2 and 4 High Street (listed at Grade II) and the highly-graded listed buildings and registered parkland of St Paul’s Walden Bury, and its contribution to Whitwell Conservation Area.

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 the country. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead: therefore the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss. One such memorial was raised at Whitwell in the parish of St Paul's Walden as a permanent testament to the sacrifices made by the members of the parish who lost their lives in the First World War.

St Paul's Walden war memorial was erected c1920 in memory of 23 local men of the parish (villages of Whitwell and St Paul’s Walden) who fell in the First World War (1914-18). Following the Second World War (1939-45) a stone plaque was added to the platform of the memorial, inscribed with the names of 10 local men who fell during that conflict. Among the fallen of the First World War, the Hon. Fergus Bowes-Lyon is commemorated; elder brother of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, he was killed in action on 27 September 1915. The memorial stands approximately 750 metres south-east of St Paul’s Walden Bury, an ancestral residence of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne (Bowes-Lyon family).

Details

War memorial, unveiled c1920, dedicated to the men of the parish who fell in the First and Second World Wars.

The stone war memorial takes the form of a Celtic cross adorned with a long cross in low relief on its front elevation, standing on a base, plinth and two-stepped platform. The memorial is inscribed on its front (south-west) elevation only, and the base of the cross reads: ‘TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND IN EVER BLESSED AND GRATEFUL MEMORY / OF THOSE MEN FROM THIS PARISH WHO LAID / DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR.’ The plinth is inscribed with the dates of the First World War (1914-18), and the names of 23 of the fallen in two columns. A stone plaque was added to the platform following the Second World War (1939-45), bearing the dates of the conflict, the names of 10 of the fallen, and the inscription ‘THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE’.

The memorial is bounded by 8 stone posts linked by metal chains, and surrounded by late-C20 paving. It is approached from the south-west from the junction of Hitchin Road (B651) and Whitwell High Street by 4 paved steps.

Sources

Websites
Roll of Honour, Whitwell War Memorial, accessed 9 November 2016 from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Hertfordshire/Whitwell.html
War Memorials Online, accessed 9 November 2016 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/node/218759
War Memorials Register, accessed 9 November 2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/3839

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

The listed building(s) is/are shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.