Summary
A Second World War memorial garden, first planned in 1948 by the Highbridge War Memorial Trust, and laid out by public subscription in c1965.
Reasons for Designation
The Highbridge Garden of Remembrance, a Second World War memorial garden, first planned in 1948 by the Highbridge War Memorial Trust, and laid out by public subscription in c1965, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Date: as a representative and mostly intact example of a Second World War memorial garden first planned in 1948 and laid out by public subscription in c1965, with a First World War Memorial incorporated into its design;
Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20;
Group value: it forms an important group with the relocated First World War Memorial of the Somerset and Dorset Railway of 1922 (listed Grade II), and incorporated into its design from the outset.
History
Plans for the Highbridge Garden of Remembrance started in 1948, when land formerly belonging to Southwell House (now no longer there) was purchased by public subscription in order to create a garden in commemoration of those who laid down their lives in the Second World War, and that same year the Highbridge War Memorial Trust was set up. It was not until the early 1960s that sufficient funds had been raised in order to create the garden, and adjacent sports fields, now called Southwell Gardens. The Garden of Remembrance was completed in c1965 and a plaque was installed to commemorate the fallen. It also incorporated the First World War Memorial from the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Company which had been salvaged from the closed Highbridge Railway Station that was to be demolished. The formal layout, incorporating a central sunken garden, reflects influences from Arts and Crafts style gardening. In 2000 a bronze plaque was added in memory of the war hero Major Francis Edward Foley (1884-1958). Foley was born in Highbridge and helped thousands of Jews escape from Nazi persecution whilst he was working in Berlin during the Second World War as a British Intelligence and Passport Officer. The plaque was stolen, but was replaced in granite and unveiled during a ceremony held in the Garden of Remembrance in 2012.
Details
A Second World War memorial garden, first planned in 1948 by the Highbridge War Memorial Trust, and laid out by public subscription in c1965.
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING
The Highbridge Garden of Remembrance covers a rectangular shaped area measuring just under 445sq m, and is located in the far north-west corner of Southwell Gardens, first laid out in the 1960s and consisting of playing fields and a tennis court (not included in the registered area). To its north and west the Garden of Remembrance is bounded by later C20 housing including Southwell Court and Southwell House (not to be confused with the former Southwell House). It is enclosed to the north by a brick garden wall, possibly belonging to the former Southwell House, which the grounds formed part of (see first edition OS Map published in 1887). To the south, east and west the garden is bounded by decorative cast iron railings set on dwarf stone wall, curved and swept at the corners.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
Highbridge Garden of Remembrance is approached via Church Street, where a dead end road leads to Southwell Court, or via Southwell Gardens to its south. The Garden has two entrance gates: one to the south and one to the west.
PRINCIPAL STRUCTURE
The main focal point within the garden is the First World War Memorial of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Company (listed Grade II), dating from the early 1920s and brought here and incorporated into its design in c1965. It comprises a large Classical style bronze relief plaque set against a stone wall, flanked by two mature yew trees terminating at the far east end of a formal sunken garden. The memorial commemorates the employees of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway who served in the First World War. Four granite plaques with further names of fallen soldiers during the First World War, added later, are attached to the stone base on which the memorial rests. This also includes, to the centre, a granite plaque of 2012, replacing an earlier bronze plaque unveiled in 2000, commemorating Major Frank Foley, with an adjacent plaque commemorating its unveiling in 2000.
GARDEN
The rectangular shaped garden is laid to lawn, planted with specimen trees and bounded by shrubs. Stone paved paths lead from the south and west entrances to an irregular shaped sunken paved garden at the centre of the lawn. This is enclosed by stone retaining walls with flat copings which incorporate five built-in benches and two raised planting beds to the centre. One of the beds contains a rectangular framed slate plaque, which appears to have been moved here from elsewhere within the garden. Words in gold lettering read: 'THESE GROUNDS WERE PROVIDED AND / THE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE / CREATED FROM FUNDS PUBLICLY / SUBSCRIBED BY THE RESIDENTS OF / HIGHBRIDGE IN MEMORY OF THOSE / WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN / THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945' followed by the 18 names of the fallen.
This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 11 July 2017.
