Listing
Search the List

What is Listing?

Listing Guidance

Apply for Listing

Missing Pieces Project

Blue Plaque Scheme
Listing

Find out about listed buildings and other protected sites, and search the National Heritage List for England (NHLE).

Find out about listing

Terracotta tiles on the roof of Saintoft Lodge, Newton-on-Rawcliffe, Ryedale, North Yorkshire. Grade II listed © Historic England Archive DP371715
Advice
Climate Change

Heritage at Risk

Your Home

Technical Guidance

Planning

Caring for Heritage

Constructive Conservation
Advice

See our extensive range of expert advice to help you care for and protect historic places.

Get our advice

A contractor cutting bricks for the wall of the partially-restored wild and natural walled garden at Warley Place, Brentwood. Explore our technical advice section © Historic England Archive DP313199
Research
Our Research Strategy and Agenda

Research Governance

Latest Research

Research Methods

Current Research

Research Results

Support & Collaboration

Inclusive Heritage

Heritage Counts
Research

Discover and use our high-quality applied research to support the protection and management of the historic environment.

Discover our research

Archaeologist Dr David Neal discussing his illustration of the mosaic being excavated at Rutland Roman Villa with members of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services team View image DP264265 © Historic England
Images & Books
Find Photos

Search All Publications

Buy Books

The Historic England Archive
Images & Books

Historic England holds an extensive range of publications and historic collections in its public archive covering the historic environment.

Browse our collections

Children play with a doll and a pram on the cobbled Church Path in Queen Camel, Somerset, in April 1953. At the far end of the path is the tower of the Church of St Barnabas, which dates to the 14th century. Photographer: John Gay Image reference: AA091596 © Historic England Archive
Services & Skills
Education

Grants

Our Planning Services

Training & Skills

Archive Services

Heritage Action Zones

Levelling Up Places Service
Services & Skills

Find out about services offered by Historic England for funding, planning, education and research, as well as training and skill development.

Learn about our services

Heritage Apprentices in a training session on the Researching The Historic Environment module and training in Architectural Photography. Find out more about Heritage Apprenticeships © Historic England Archive DP347660
What's New
News

In Your Area

Historic England Blog

Latest Research

Heritage Online Debate

Statements

Stay up to Date
What's New

Read about our current news, projects and campaigns nationally and in your area.

Catch up with what's new

Two horsemen reading The Sportsman, 30 Oct 1902, Farnborough, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. Part of the Alfred Newton and Sons collection. Source Historic England Archive. BB98/02592
About Us
What We Do

Who We Are

How We Are Funded

Contact Us

Careers

Volunteer with Historic England
About Us

Historic England is the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England's spectacular historic environment.

Find out more

Mountbatten House (formerly Gateway House), Basing View, Basingstoke, the former headquarters for the paper merchants Wiggins Teape by Arup Associates. Listed at Grade II. © Historic England
Sign in
Manage my account

Sign out

Limehouse War Memorial

St James' Gardens, Butcher Row, Limehouse, London

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

Overview

First World War memorial. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1449788
Date first listed:: 18-Oct-2017
List Entry Name:: Limehouse War Memorial
Statutory Address:: St James' Gardens, Butcher Row, Limehouse, London

User submitted image — Uploaded by Charles Watson 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.

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

Also of interest

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1449788
Date first listed:: 18-Oct-2017
List Entry Name:: Limehouse War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: St James' Gardens, Butcher Row, Limehouse, London

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 James' Gardens, Butcher Row, Limehouse, London

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

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: Tower Hamlets (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ3600080934

Summary

First World War memorial.

Reasons for Designation

Limehouse war memorial, which is situated in St James’ Gardens, 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 during the First World War.

Architectural interest:

* An elegant Latin cross with finely carved depictions of poppy-heads and briars.

Group value:

* With the Grade II*-listed Royal Foundation of St Katherine and the Grade II-listed Shadwell Portal to the Rotherhithe Tunnel.

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 Limehouse as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War. It was unveiled on 15 April 1923 by General Sir Ian Hamilton GCB GCMG DSO.

Details

First World War memorial.

DESCRIPTION: Limehouse War Memorial is located within St James’ Gardens, in close proximity to the Grade II*-listed Royal Foundation of St Katherine and the Grade II-listed Shadwell Portal to the Rotherhithe Tunnel.

It is of Portland stone and takes the form of a tall, Latin cross with splayed foot, rising from a rectangular plinth. The north face of the cross-head and shaft is carved with a design of poppy-heads and briars, with the dates 1914/ 1918 incised to the base of the shaft. The plinth has a chamfered, square block foot and surmounts a two-stepped base.

The inscriptions and names are incised on the faces of the plinth; the stone panels to the north, east and west faces project forward. Inscribed to the top of the north face are the words TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND TO THE MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF ENGLAND/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR. To the top of the south face are the words GREATER LOVE HAS NO MAN/ THAN THAT HE/ SHOULD LAY DOWN HIS LIFE/ FOR HIS FRIENDS. The names are listed below the inscriptions and to the east and west faces.

The memorial sits on a paved area with planting to either side. The area is mostly enclosed from the wider gardens by low metal railings with the exception of a gap to the north side which allows access to the memorial.

Sources

Websites
London Remembers, accessed 09 August 2017 from https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/limehouse-ww1-cross
War Memorials Online, accessed 09 August 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/142475
War Memorials Register, accessed 09 August 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/18210

Legal

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