Southwold War Memorial

Bartholomew Green, Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6JA

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Overview

First World War memorial, unveiled and dedicated in 1921, with Second World War additions. It was sculpted by Messrs RJ Allen and Son of Southwold. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1450072
Date first listed:: 09-Jan-2018
List Entry Name:: Southwold War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Bartholomew Green, Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6JA

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1450072
Date first listed:: 09-Jan-2018
List Entry Name:: Southwold War Memorial
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: Bartholomew Green, Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6JA

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:: Bartholomew Green, Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6JA

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

County:: Suffolk
District:: East Suffolk (District Authority)
Parish:: Southwold
National Grid Reference:: TM5074076347

Summary

First World War memorial, unveiled and dedicated in 1921, with Second World War additions. It was sculpted by Messrs RJ Allen and Son of Southwold.

Reasons for Designation

Southwold War Memorial, unveiled and dedicated in 1921, with Second World War additions, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* As an accomplished and well-realised war memorial which takes the form of a Celtic wheel-head cross atop a trapezoidal plinth.

Historic interest:

* As an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflicts of the C20;

Group value:

* With the neighbouring Grade I-listed Church of St Edmund, the Grade II-listed churchyard gates, several Grade II-listed churchyard monuments and the nine Grade II-listed houses on the east and west sides of Bartholomew Green.

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 on Bartholomew Green in Southwold as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the 52 members of the local community who lost their lives during the conflict. It was unveiled by Mr RFB Coling, and dedicated by the Venerable Archdeacon JGR Darling, on 3 July 1921. The cost of the memorial, by Messrs RJ Allen and Son of Southwold, came to £243 5s 3d and was raised by public subscription. Following the Second World War a dedication was added to commemorate the 20 servicemen and 13 civilians who died in that conflict.

Details

First World War memorial, unveiled and dedicated in 1921, with Second World War additions. It was sculpted by Messrs RJ Allen and Son of Southwold.

MATERIALS: of rock-faced granite.

PLAN: it is square-on-plan.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial stands in the north-east corner of Bartholomew Green, adjacent to the churchyard gates (listed Grade II) to the Church of St Edmund (listed Grade I). It comprises a four-stepped base on which stands a trapezoidal plinth with leaded inscriptions on polished faces to all four sides. Rising from the plinth is a tall shaft which tapers in rectangular section to a Celtic wheel-head cross. On the east face is a relief carving of the Sword of Sacrifice.

The First World War dedication is inscribed on the plinth’s east face and reads ‘1914 – 1918 / TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF OUR / FELLOW TOWNS MEN WHO FELL IN THE / GREAT WAR / [Names]’. Further names of the men who died during the First World War are inscribed on the west face. The north face is inscribed ‘1939 – 1945’ with the names of the service men who died inscribed below while the inscription on the south face reads ‘CIVILIANS KILLED BY / ENEMY ACTION / 1939 – 1945 / [Names].

The memorial stands within an octagonal lawned area which is defined by granite kerb stones and a chain link fence with cast iron bollards. This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 15 January 2018.

Sources

Websites
Information on Southwold War Memorial from the Imperial War Museum's War Memorials Register, accessed 22 August 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/5059
Information on Southwold War Memorial from the Roll of Honour website, accessed 22 August 2017 from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Suffolk/Southwold.html
War Memorials Online, accessed 15 January 2018 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/117640

Legal

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