Rowde War Memorial Cross

The churchyard, St Matthew's Church, High Street, Rowde, Wiltshire, SN10 2PW

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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:: 1451060
Date first listed:: 16-Nov-2017
List Entry Name:: Rowde War Memorial Cross
Statutory Address:: The churchyard, St Matthew's Church, High Street, Rowde, Wiltshire, SN10 2PW

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1451060
Date first listed:: 16-Nov-2017
List Entry Name:: Rowde War Memorial Cross
Statutory Address 1:: The churchyard, St Matthew's Church, High Street, Rowde, Wiltshire, SN10 2PW

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:: The churchyard, St Matthew's Church, High Street, Rowde, Wiltshire, SN10 2PW

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

District:: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Rowde
National Grid Reference:: ST9783962651

Summary

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

Reasons for Designation

Rowde War Memorial Cross, which stands in the churchyard of the Church of St Matthew, 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 memorial cross in granite.

Group value:

* with the Church of St Matthew (Grade II*) and a number of Grade II-listed churchyard monuments.

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 Rowde as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 24 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, on which it appears, was revised. The names of nine parishioners who died during the Second World War were subsequently added to the memorial.

A stone plaque nearby, inset into the lawn, commemorates the death at sea of a Royal Navy sailor in 1940. A further stone plaque has been erected on a low plinth adjacent to the memorial cross. This records five additional First World War names not originally included on the memorial cross, and five members of the Devizes Boys' Brigade who died during the Second World War.

Details

The granite memorial cross stands beside a path in the churchyard of the Church of St Matthew (Grade II*), close to several Grade II-listed churchyard monuments. It comprises a plain rough-hewn Latin cross standing on a tapering rough-hewn plinth, with a two-stepped square base.

The principal dedicatory inscription to the front face of the plinth, in applied metal lettering, reads IN/ LOVING MEMORY OF THE BRAVE/ OFFICERS AND MEN OF ROWDE WHO/ FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1919./ (NAMES)/ REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THEM WHO CAME NOT/ HOME FROM THE WAR.

The later Second World War inscription, to the right-hand face of the plinth, reads IN/ REMEMBRANCE OF/ THOSE WHO FELL IN THE WAR/ 1939-1945/ (NAMES).

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 25 May 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/217977
War Memorials Register, accessed 25 May 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/70129
Other
Ordnance Survey County Series (1:2500), Wiltshire sheet XXXIII.12 (revised 1922, published 1924).

Legal

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