Swanage War Memorial
Recreation Ground, Shore Road, Swanage, BH19 1LB
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1443734
- Date first listed:
- 24-Mar-2017
- List Entry Name:
- Swanage War Memorial
- Statutory Address:
- Recreation Ground, Shore Road, Swanage, BH19 1LB
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1443734
- Date first listed:
- 24-Mar-2017
- List Entry Name:
- Swanage War Memorial
- Statutory Address 1:
- Recreation Ground, Shore Road, Swanage, BH19 1LB
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:
- Recreation Ground, Shore Road, Swanage, BH19 1LB
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Swanage
- National Grid Reference:
- SZ0302179079
Summary
War memorial, erected in 1920; reconstructed and re-sited in 2014.
Reasons for Designation
Swanage 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 sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20;
* Architectural interest: the simple design, in the form of a large cairn, is fitting for its purpose as a memorial structure.
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 erected in Swanage, within a newly-created Memorial Recreation Ground on the N side of the town. It was unveiled on 1 August 1920 and commemorates the 99 local men who died during the conflict. After the Second World War a second dedicatory inscription, together with names of the Fallen, was added in memory of the 65 local men and women who lost their lives during this war.
The memorial originally stood on stone paving within a low walled enclosure with metal gates on the W side. In 2014, during stabilisation work to the sloping land on the E side of the recreation ground, the war memorial was dismantled and subsequently reconstructed in a new location, a short distance away from its original position.
Details
War memorial, erected in 1920; reconstructed and re-sited in 2014.
The structure is in the form of a large, tapering cairn which is built of weathered, cut and squared Purbeck stone that is mortared. It stands on a base of three stone steps. The E face has an inset stone tablet which is inscribed in painted black lettering: In Memory of / Swanage Men / who fell in the Great War / 1914-1918. Above this is a similar tablet which reads: In Memory of The / Swanage Men and Women / /Who Lost Their Lives in / The War / 1939-1945. The other three faces carry plaques bearing the names of the Fallen. The memorial now (2017) stands on a modern tarmac surface.
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, 5 June 2017.
Sources
Websites
Roll of Honour. Swanage – War Memorial, accessed 30 January 2017 from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Dorset/Swanage.html
War Memorials Register, accessed 5 June 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/26505
War Memorials Online, accessed 5 June 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/97680
Other
Swanage Conservation Area. Appraisal document, July 2008 Purbeck District Council
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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 11-Jun-2026 at 19:47:40.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.