Diseworth War Memorial
St Michael's Church, Clements Gate, Diseworth, Leicestershire, DE742QD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1453170
- Date first listed:
- 27-Apr-2018
- List Entry Name:
- Diseworth War Memorial
- Statutory Address:
- St Michael's Church, Clements Gate, Diseworth, Leicestershire, DE742QD
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1453170
- Date first listed:
- 27-Apr-2018
- List Entry Name:
- Diseworth War Memorial
- Statutory Address 1:
- St Michael's Church, Clements Gate, Diseworth, Leicestershire, DE742QD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- St Michael's Church, Clements Gate, Diseworth, Leicestershire, DE742QD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Leicestershire
- District:
- North West Leicestershire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Long Whatton and Diseworth
- National Grid Reference:
- SK4535824560
Summary
First World War memorial, 1921.
The churchyard walls flanking the east and west sides of the memorial, as defined by their flat coping stones, are excluded from the listing.
Reasons for Designation
Diseworth War Memorial, erected in 1921, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflict of the First World War.
Architectural interest:
* as an accomplished and well-realised war memorial which takes the form of a roadside shrine.
Group value:
* with the neighbouring Church of St Michael and All Angles Peter (listed Grade II*) and Cross Farmhouse (listed Grade II).
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, which took the form of a roadside shrine, was raised in Diseworth in 1921 as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 21 local men, along with the 44 men who fought and returned. Placed in the churchyard wall, at the entrance to the Church of St Michael and All Angels (listed Grade II*), it was unveiled on 25 September 1921 by Mr CB Shakespeare JP of Langley Prior, and dedicated by the Rural Dean, the Reverend WA King. Along with the shrine, local commemoration also involved the recasting and re-hanging of the four church bells, along with the addition of a fifth bell.
Details
First World War memorial, 1921.
MATERIALS: of Breedon granite with marble tablets.
DESCRIPTION: the war memorial is located in the churchyard wall at St Michael's and All Angles Church (listed Grade II*), immediately to the left-hand side of the churchyard entrance. It comprises a vertical extension to the churchyard wall, forming a shrine of rubble stone construction, which has a triangular pedimented central column, with lower, sloping wings. Recessed inside the upper section of the central panel is a marble tablet set beneath a stone lintel. It is incised with an heraldic crest bearing the motto 'SOUVENT ME SOUVIENT', a French phase meaning 'often I remember' or 'think of me often'. Immediately below this, occupying the main area of the memorial, is a recessed marble tablet with a triangular head. The upper section of the tablet is ornamented with an incised cross enclosed by a wreath, flanked by the dates 1914 and 1918. Underneath is the dedicatory inscription which reads 'IN PROUD MEMORY OF THE DISEWORTH MEN WHO FELL IN THE / GREAT WAR, AND HAS A THANKOFFERING TO GOD FOR THE SAFE / RETURN OF SO MANY, THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED: FOUR OF THE CHURCH / BELLS WERE RECAST AND REHUNG: A FIFTH BELL WAS ADDED'. Below this are three columns of which the central column lists the names of the men who died while the two flanking columns list the names of the men who fought and returned.
Sources
Websites
Information on Diseworth War Memorial from Leicestershire County Council's War Memorials Project website, accessed 20 December 2017 from http://www.leicestershirewarmemorials.co.uk/war/memorials/view/352
Information on Diseworth War Memorial from the Imperial War Museum's War Memorials Register, accessed 20 December 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/38167
Other
Derbyshire Advertiser, 30 September 1921, p4
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
The listed building(s) is/are shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map: a roadside shrine of stone rubble construction with a triangular pedimented central column and lower, sloping wings) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 12-Jun-2026 at 08:32:44.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.