Worthing War Memorial

Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 9SA

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

Overview

First World War memorial, unveiled 1921, with dates and names from later conflicts added. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1447552
Date first listed:: 27-Jun-2017
List Entry Name:: Worthing War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 9SA

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1447552
Date first listed:: 27-Jun-2017
List Entry Name:: Worthing War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 9SA

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:: Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 9SA

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

County:: West Sussex
District:: Worthing (District Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ1480502987

Summary

First World War memorial, unveiled 1921, with dates and names from later conflicts added.

Reasons for Designation

Worthing War Memorial, Chapel Road, Worthing, 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: as a handsome composition of bronze figurative sculpture on an architectural stone plinth; * Group value: the memorial stands outside Worthing's Grade II listed town hall, forming part of a civic group.

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

Worthing War Memorial was unveiled on 11 April 1921 by Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson. It was made by Joseph Whitehead and Sons and paid for by public subscription through the Worthing Gazette. The dates of the Second World War and a list of the names of the fallen of that conflict were added to the memorial, as have the names of others who fell in subsequent conflicts.

Details

First World War memorial, unveiled 1921, with dates and names from later conflicts added.

MATERIALS: stone and bronze.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial takes the form of a tall square plinth on a stepped base. On the plinth is a bronze sculpture of a soldier holding a rifle in his left hand and his helmet aloft in his right hand. At the top of the plinth on each side is a bronze wreath.

The memorial faces north-east and on the base are the following inscriptions: OUR GLORIOUS DEAD / 1914-1918/ DUTY NOBLY DONE and below this, ALSO IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL IN THE WAR / 1939-45

To the rear of the memorial is the following inscription: THIS MEMORIAL / WAS ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION / RAISED THROUGH THE WORTHING GAZETTE / IT WAS UNVEILED BY / FIELD-MARSHAL SIR WILLIAM ROBERTSON BART GCB / ON 11th APRIL 1921

The faces of the plinth and base are inscribed with names (First World War: 660, Second World War: 404).

The memorial is surrounded by a chain, linked to low stone bollards at each corner of the base, and it stands outside the Grade II-listed Worthing Town Hall of 1933-4.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 3 July 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/122302
War Memorials Register, accessed 18 May 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/147

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 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 and the bollards and chains which surround the building), are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.