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Alphington War Memorial Cross

The Green, Junction of Dawlish Road, Church Road and Chudleigh Road, Alphington, Exeter, Devon, EX2 8TA

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

Overview

First World War memorial incorporating a medieval cross head, unveiled 1920, with later additions for the Second World War. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1443076
Date first listed:: 20-Feb-2017
List Entry Name:: Alphington War Memorial Cross
Statutory Address:: The Green, Junction of Dawlish Road, Church Road and Chudleigh Road, Alphington, Exeter, Devon, EX2 8TA

User submitted image — Uploaded by War Memorials Online This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1443076
Date first listed:: 20-Feb-2017
List Entry Name:: Alphington War Memorial Cross
Statutory Address 1:: The Green, Junction of Dawlish Road, Church Road and Chudleigh Road, Alphington, Exeter, Devon, EX2 8TA

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:: The Green, Junction of Dawlish Road, Church Road and Chudleigh Road, Alphington, Exeter, Devon, EX2 8TA

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

County:: Devon
District:: Exeter (District Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SX9180790041

Summary

First World War memorial incorporating a medieval cross head, unveiled 1920, with later additions for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Alphington War Memorial Cross, which stands on the green at the junction of Dawlish Road and Church Road, 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 has made in the conflicts of the C20; * Architectural interest: a simple yet poignant granite memorial cross, based on Alphington’s Grade II-listed medieval wayside cross and incorporating medieval stonework from an earlier cross; * Group value: with the Grade II*-listed Church of St Michael, and numerous Grade II-listed structures standing around the green.

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. 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, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss. One such memorial was raised at Alphington as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

The memorial cross was unveiled on 30 October 1920 by Major-General Sir Louis Bols KCB KCMG DSO and dedicated by the Rector, Reverend BC Bennett. A memorial tablet raised inside the parish church, recording the names of servicemen who died in the First World War, was unveiled by Colonel HW Smith-Rewse CB CVO at the same ceremony: 29 names are commemorated. The memorials were paid for through public subscription.

The cross design is based on that of the medieval wayside cross (Grade II-listed) that stands at the junction of Alphington Road and Cowick Lane, circa 700m to the NW of the war memorial. The war memorial incorporates a small piece of medieval stonework, forming the cross head on top of the shaft, presumably from an earlier cross that stood at this end of the settlement. Following the Second World War the inscription on the memorial cross was adapted to mark the community’s Second World War losses.

Details

The granite memorial cross stands on a green at the junction of Dawlish Road and Church Road, to the N of the Church of St Michael (Grade II*-listed) and in close proximity to a number of Grade II-listed structures. It takes the form of a tall, plain Latin cross that rises from a low pedestal, square on plan. The pedestal stands on a three-stepped, octagonal, base. A small cross shape is inset into the cross head. The dedicatory inscription in applied metal letters is recorded on the front face of the pedestal. It reads 1914 - 1919 1939 - 1945/ THIS ANCIENT CROSS/ WAS RESTORED TO THE GLORY OF GOD IN/ MEMORY OF OUR BRAVE MEN WHO DIED/ FOR THEIR KING AND COUNTRY 1914 – 1919.

Sources

Websites
Devon Heritage, War Memorials, accessed 03/01/2017 from http://www.devonheritage.org/Places/Alphington/AlphingtonWarMemorial1914-1918.htm
Heritage Gateway, Devon and Dartmoor Historic Environment Records, accessed 30/01/2017 from http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV17809&resourceID=104
War Memorials Online, accessed 03/01/2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/207636/
War Memorials Register, accessed 03/01/2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/25186
Other
“The Honoured Dead. Unveiling and Dedication of Alphington’s War Memorial.” The Western Times, 1 November 1920, p4

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 is shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s1 (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.