Seascale War Memorial

Churchyard of the Church of St Cuthbert, Gosforth Road, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PU

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

Overview

First World War memorial, designed by W G Collingwood and unveiled on 28 May 1921. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1441482
Date first listed:: 13-Feb-2017
List Entry Name:: Seascale War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Churchyard of the Church of St Cuthbert, Gosforth Road, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PU

User submitted image — Uploaded by War Memorials Online This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1441482
Date first listed:: 13-Feb-2017
List Entry Name:: Seascale War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: Churchyard of the Church of St Cuthbert, Gosforth Road, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PU

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:: Churchyard of the Church of St Cuthbert, Gosforth Road, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PU

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

District:: Cumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Seascale
National Grid Reference:: NY0379501123

Summary

First World War memorial, designed by W G Collingwood and unveiled on 28 May 1921.

Reasons for Designation

Seascale 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 this local community, and the sacrifice it made in the First World War; * Architectural interest: an ornate and striking memorial cross with an impressive composition of finely carved stonework Scandinavian interlace designs; * Designer: an excellent example of the work of William Gershom Collingwood informed by his scholarly and artistic expertise studying Norse and Anglican archaeology and early Northumbrian Crosses; * Group value: with the Church of St Cuthbert (Grade II).

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 Seascale as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

William Gershom Collingwood (1854–1932) designed several memorials including the cross to John Ruskin at Coniston and First World War memorials at Grasmere, Coniston, Seascale and Hawkshead amongst others. Collingwood was a pupil of Ruskin’s and had been helping him at Brantwood editing a number of Ruskin's texts. Collingwood’s biography of Ruskin, published in 1893 and rewritten in 1900, became a standard work. In the 1890s Collingwood found his vocation as a painter and also became interested in Lake District history. He joined the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society in 1887 studying Norse and Anglican archaeology in the north, particularly the artistic aspect of it, on which he became widely recognised as the leading authority. His most important work, Northumbrian Crosses of the pre-Norman Age was published in 1927. These interests influenced his 1901 design of Ruskin’s memorial, which was in the form of an Anglo-Celtic cross with interlace scrollwork and symbolic panels (Grade II), and his First World War memorial designs. Collingwood’s interlace designs for each memorial are all individual and not repeated. Informed by his scholarly and artistic expertise they are among the most distinguished works that he produced in his career.

Seascale War Memorial was designed by Collingwood and it was influenced by C8 - C9 crosses in Cumbria such as that at St Paul's Church, Irton (scheduled monument) and at St Cuthbert's Church, Bewcastle (scheduled monument). These crosses bear intricate carved decoration including plant scrolls, plaiting and interlace patterns, birds and animals and figural representation.

The makers of the Seascale memorial were Prestons of Whitehaven and it was unveiled by Lt-Col D J Mason DSO of Workington on 28 May 1921. It commemorates 11 fallen local men.

Details

MATERIALS: sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial is located in the churchyard of the Church of St Cuthbert and comprises a Celtic-style cross surmounting a rectangular tapered shaft. The front and sides are richly decorated with carved Scandinavian interlace designs and on the back is a carved vine scroll.

The inscription on the front face is carved in relief and reads IN GRATEFUL/ REMEMBRANCE/ OF THE MEN OF/ SEASCALE/ WHO DIED FOR/ THEIR COUNTRY/ IN THE GREAT/ WAR 1914 – 1918/ (NAMES)/ THEIR NAME LIVETH/ FOR EVERMORE.

The shaft is set upon a three-stepped rectangular base.

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
Townend, M, The Vikings and Victorian Lakeland: The Norse Medievalism of W G Collingwood and his Contemporaries, (2009)
Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 17 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/170410
War Memorials Register, accessed 21 Oct 2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/3916

Legal

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