Mayfield War Memorial

c10m to the south of St Dunstan's Church porch, St Dunstan's Church, High Street, Mayfield, East Sussex, TN20 6AQ

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Overview

First World War memorial cross, unveiled 1920, with added commemorative plaque and names for the Second World War. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1452393
Date first listed:: 25-Jan-2018
List Entry Name:: Mayfield War Memorial
Statutory Address:: c10m to the south of St Dunstan's Church porch, St Dunstan's Church, High Street, Mayfield, East Sussex, TN20 6AQ

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1452393
Date first listed:: 25-Jan-2018
List Entry Name:: Mayfield War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: c10m to the south of St Dunstan's Church porch, St Dunstan's Church, High Street, Mayfield, East Sussex, TN20 6AQ

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:: c10m to the south of St Dunstan's Church porch, St Dunstan's Church, High Street, Mayfield, East Sussex, TN20 6AQ

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

County:: East Sussex
District:: Wealden (District Authority)
Parish:: Mayfield and Five Ashes
National Grid Reference:: TQ5864726998

Summary

First World War memorial cross, unveiled 1920, with added commemorative plaque and names for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Mayfield War Memorial, which stands on the High Street, 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:

* An elegant war memorial cross with a strong visual and compositional association with the south front of the Church of St Dunstan.

Group value:

* With the parish church of St Dunstan (Grade I) and buildings on the High Street including Walnut Tree House and Stone House (Grade II*), Middle House Hotel (Grade I), and numerous Grade II-listed buildings.

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 Mayfield as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 64 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War. A local resident who died in 1916 had left a bequest so that the house formerly standing on the plot could be demolished, to open up the entranceway to the parish church: further fundraising enabled this project to be completed, and the war memorial to be erected in the re-designed site.

The memorial was designed by Mr Omar Ramsden of London who also created the bronze elements of the memorial. It was unveiled at a well-attended ecumenical service on 27 November 1920 by General Sir Henry Sclater, and dedicated by Reverend EC Pitt-Johnson. Following the Second World War, a dedication was added to commemorate 25 local servicemen who died in that conflict.

Details

MATERIALS: Purbeck stone, bronze plaques.

DESCRIPTION: Mayfield War Memorial stands in a gap between the buildings on the north side of the High Street, in line with the south porch of the Grade I-listed parish Church of St Dunstan. It comprises a cross botonée rising from the moulded collar of a tall, tapering octagonal shaft. The cross shaft’s splayed foot stands on the corniced plinth, octagonal in plan. The plinth stands on three octagonal steps.

A crenellated bronze plaque to the front face of the plinth carries the principal dedicatory inscription. Beneath a wreath, the dedication reads IN EVER-GRATEFUL/ MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF/ MAYFIELD/ WHO GAVE THEIR/ LIVES FOR KING/ AND COUNTRY IN/ THE GREAT WAR/ 1914-1918/ IN THE MORNING WE/ WILL REMEMBER AND/ AT THE GOING DOWN/ OF THE SUN WE WILL/ NOT FORGET. Commemorated names are recorded on the plinth’s other faces, incised into the stone below small bronze wreaths fixed to the top of each face. A bronze plaque has been added to base which reads AND OF THOSE WHO/FELL IN THE WORLD WAR/ 1939-1945, with names on the adjacent faces.

The cross is surrounded by a crazy-paving pavement, with rubble stone retaining walls on three sides.

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, 29 January 2018.

Sources

Websites
Roll of Honour - Sussex, Mayfield, accessed 9 December 2016 from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Sussex/Mayfield.html
War Memorials Online, accessed 29 January 2018 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/179436
War Memorials Register, accessed 9 December 2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/17285
Other
‘Mayfield War Memorial’, Sussex Agricultural Express, 3 December 1920, p9

Legal

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