Crawshawbooth War Memorial

Summary

War memorial of 1920, relocated in 2010, with additional names of the Second World War, by HA Paley of Austin and Paley, for the Brooks family.

Reasons for Designation

Crawshawbooth War Memorial, a First World War memorial of 1920 now re-erected in a memorial garden opposite the church of St John the Evangelist, 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:

* for its good-quality Gothic design, in particular the slender cross, subtle moulding, blind tracery arches, elaborate Gothic-style lettering and raised inscription of the names of the Fallen.

Group value:

* for its additional value as a work by the same practice as the church in whose churchyard it was originally erected, and with which it still forms a visual group across the intervening road.

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.

The memorial was unveiled on Sunday 10 October 1920, in the churchyard of the Church of St John the Evangelist, the parish church in Crawshawbooth. Rev F Williams conducted a short service before the unveiling, at which was sung Spohr’s ‘Blest Are The Departed’. In his address, Rev Williams spoke about the 212 men that had joined up from the local church and school, with 24 of them not returning. The procession to the memorial was accompanied by the choir singing ‘For All Thy Saints’. The memorial was covered by a Union Jack, which was released to unveil the memorial by the Rt Hon Lord Crawshaw, to the sound of The Last Post.

The memorial was originally located to the north-east of the church, but was relocated in 2010 to move it away from eroding brook banks. It now stands on the opposite side of Burnley Road from the church within a small roadside memorial garden surrounded by a hexagonal area of stone paving approached from the road by a stone-flag path. Additional names were included after the Second World War.

Henry Anderson Paley (1859-1946), eldest son of the four children of Edward Graham Paley, was articled to the Lancaster practice of Austin and Paley in 1877. He became a partner in 1886, the practice becoming Paley, Austin and Paley. The practice designed the Church of St John the Evangelist (1890-1892, National Heritage List for England 1163934, Grade II*), in whose grounds the memorial originally stood. On EG Paley’s death in 1895, the firm became Austin and Paley. HJ Austin died in 1915 but the practice continued under HA Paley, designing (among other buildings) the contemporary war memorial at Sturton le Steeple (1921, NHLE 1421785, Grade II). The mill-owning Brooks family commissioned the church, and probably the memorial as well. The original design drawing for this memorial, dated 1 December 1919, is in the care of the Rossendale Civic Trust.

Details

First World War memorial of 1920, relocated in 2010, with additional names of the Second World War, by HA Paley of Austin and Paley, for the Brooks family.

MATERIALS: buff sandstone.

PLAN: hexagonal, on three hexagonal steps.

DESCRIPTION: a fleury cross, with laurel-wreath wheel-head and a slender, tapering, chamfered shaft. The hexagonal foot is enhanced with blind tracery. Each face of the base comprises a panel, framed by columns, a cusped round arch and an inscribed band above, and rising from a chamfered plinth. The band is inscribed with Gothic lettering in relief. This reads:

THEY COUNTED/ NOT THEIR LIVES/ DEAR UNTO/ THEMSELVES -/ THEIR REWARD/ IS SURE

Four of the panels have a carved inscription in relief, bearing the names of the Fallen (numbering 24). The names are listed in alphabetical order, with six names on each of the four panels. The names are worn, in places indecipherable. One panel contains a relief carving of a garlanded laurel wreath. The remaining panel contains the carved dedication in relief. This reads:

ERECTED/ IN HONOUR OF/ THE MEMBERS OF/ ST: JOHN’S CH:/ WHO FELL/ IN THE WAR/ 1914 – 1918

Beneath this panel the upper face of the plinth is incised with the dates of the Second World War. The other five faces display the names of the Fallen of that conflict in alphabetical order, numbering nine in total.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 17 February 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/18690
Rossendale Family History Society, accessed 17 February 2017 from http://www.rossendale-fhhs.org.uk/files/war_memorials/st_john_cb_memorial.html
War Memorials Online, accessed 17 February 2017 from www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/151593/
Dictionary of Scottish Architects, Henry Anderson Paley, accessed 01 March 2017 from http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=204272

Other
‘In Stately Silence’, description of the dedication ceremony, Rossendale Free Press 16 October 1920

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.