Broad Blunsdon War Memorial Cross

Burytown Cemetery, Burytown Lane, Broad Blunsdon, Swindon, SN26 7DQ

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

Overview

First World War memorial cross, with later additions for the Second World War. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1451039
Date first listed:: 08-Nov-2017
List Entry Name:: Broad Blunsdon War Memorial Cross
Statutory Address:: Burytown Cemetery, Burytown Lane, Broad Blunsdon, Swindon, SN26 7DQ

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:: 1451039
Date first listed:: 08-Nov-2017
List Entry Name:: Broad Blunsdon War Memorial Cross
Statutory Address 1:: Burytown Cemetery, Burytown Lane, Broad Blunsdon, Swindon, SN26 7DQ

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:: Burytown Cemetery, Burytown Lane, Broad Blunsdon, Swindon, SN26 7DQ

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

District:: Swindon (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Blunsdon
National Grid Reference:: SU1553290790

Summary

First World War memorial cross, with later additions for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Broad Blunsdon War Memorial, which stands in the cemetery, 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:

* a simple yet poignant stone memorial cross.

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 in the cemetery at Broad Blunsdon as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 21 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War. The memorial had been erected by 1922, when the Ordnance Survey County Series 1:2500 map sheet for the area was revised.

The names of 6 parishioners who died during the Second World War were subsequently added to the memorial.

Details

The stone memorial stands in the main path through Broad Blunsdon's cemetery (the cemetery had been opened in 1889 following the closure of the churchyard of the nearby Church of St Leonard (Grade II*)).

The memorial comprises a Latin cross rising from the moulded collar of a tapering shaft, octagonal in section, which stands on a square plinth. The whole is mounted on a three-stepped base. The inscription and names are incised into the faces of the plinth, with leaded and painted lettering. The rank, name, battalion, date of death and age of each of the fallen are given.

The main inscription, on the north-west face of the plinth reads TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OF THE MEN OF/ THIS VILLAGE, WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 - 1919 / (5 NAMES). The north-east- and south-west-facing sides of the plinth each record an additional eight names.

The south-east-facing side of the plinth features the later addition of the names of the fallen of the Second World War, reading 1939 - 1945 / (6 NAMES).

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 22 May 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/234435/
War Memorials Register, accessed 22 May 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/24142
Other
Ordnance Survey County Series (1:2500), Wiltshire sheet X.8 (revised 1922, published 1923).

Legal

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