Forncett St Peter War Memorial

St Peter's churchyard, Aslacton Road, Forncett St Peter, Norfolk, NR16 1LT

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

Overview

First World War memorial, early 1920s, with Second World War addition. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1447657
Date first listed:: 11-Jul-2017
List Entry Name:: Forncett St Peter War Memorial
Statutory Address:: St Peter's churchyard, Aslacton Road, Forncett St Peter, Norfolk, NR16 1LT

User submitted image — Uploaded by War Memorials Online This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1447657
Date first listed:: 11-Jul-2017
List Entry Name:: Forncett St Peter War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: St Peter's churchyard, Aslacton Road, Forncett St Peter, Norfolk, NR16 1LT

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:: St Peter's churchyard, Aslacton Road, Forncett St Peter, Norfolk, NR16 1LT

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

County:: Norfolk
District:: South Norfolk (District Authority)
Parish:: Forncett
National Grid Reference:: TM1643192848

Summary

First World War memorial, early 1920s, with Second World War addition.

Reasons for Designation

Forncett St Peter war memorial, which is situated in St Peter’s churchyard, 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: * As an elegant and delicately ornamented limestone wheel-head cross, depicting symbolic floral motifs on the cross head;

Group value: * For its relationship with the Grade I listed Church of St Peter.

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: therefore the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss. One such memorial was raised at Forncett St Peter as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

Like many Norfolk war memorials, the Forncett St Peter memorial is situated within the churchyard. The Reverend T J Bentley applied for and was granted a faculty to erect a cross in the churchyard, in October 1920, so it is likely that the memorial dates to 1920 or 1921. It commemorates 13 individuals who fell in the First World War. A single Second World War casualty name was added later.

Details

First World War memorial, early 1920s, with Second World War addition.

MATERIALS: limestone.

DESCRIPTION: Forncett St Peter war memorial is located in the churchyard to the west of the Church of St Peter (Grade I-listed).

The memorial takes the form of a limestone, wheel-head cross pattée. There are detailed carvings of Rose, Iris, Grape and Passion of Christ Flower on each arm of the cross, and a Tudor rose motif at the centre. The wheel of the cross also includes small floral carvings. The cross head surmounts a straight, four-sided shaft with simply-moulded foot and a wreath carved in relief beneath the cross head. The shaft rises from a tapering, four-sided plinth with double-moulded cap and chamfered foot. This is atop a large stone base given rusticated detailing and with a bronze wreath affixed to the front. The whole is on a small concrete platform.

The principal inscription is on the plinth, underneath an incised cross pattée symbol, and reads: IN HONOURED MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF THIS PARISH/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES/ IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1918. The remaining sides carry the names and Second World War dedication.

All lettering is incised and painted black.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 22 May 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/166664/
Other
Mention of application for faculty, Thetford & Watton Times and People's Weekly Journal (23 October 1920), pp3

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.