Codnor Park and Ironville War Memorial

Summary

War memorial, erected in 1923. Built by Mr Edward Cope of Riddings.

Reasons for Designation

Codnor Park and Ironville War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for its accomplished and well-realised design in the form of a Celtic-style wheel cross;
* it survives unaltered in its original location.

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;
* for its association with the Butterley Company, an iron manufactory in Codnor Park, who were closely involved in the memorial’s erection.

Group value:

* for its relationship with the mid-C19 Christ Church (Grade II), built for the Butterley Company.

History

The great age of memorial building was in the aftermath of the First World War 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.

Codnor Park and Ironville War Memorial is located within the churchyard of Christ Church (Grade II). The mid-C19 church was built for the Butterley Company, an iron manufactory who had works at Codnor Park. The Butterley Company were involved in the erection of the war memorial and laid out the platform on which the memorial stands, and the path that connects the memorial to the south gateway to Christ Church. The Butterley Company’s mine manager, Henry Eustace Mitton, presided over the unveiling ceremony that took place on Armistice Day, 11 November 1923, and the memorial was unveiled by Major General C C Van Straubenzee and dedicated by the Reverend Douglas G Smith. The war memorial was built by local stone mason Mr Edward Cope of Riddings, and an historic photograph suggests that it originally had kerbstones around the platform.

The memorial commemorates the 35 men of the parish who died during the First World War. The names of the nine men who died during the Second World War have been added subsequently.

In 2016 the memorial was conserved with the help of grant aid from War Memorials Trust.

Details

War memorial, erected in 1923. Built by Mr Edward Cope of Riddings.

MATERIALS: of roughly-hewn granite, with lead lettering, painted black.

DESCRIPTION: located to the south side of the tower of Christ Church (Grade II) the war memorial comprises a Celtic-style wheel cross with a tapered shaft. It is mounted on a tapered rectangular plinth, with a two-stepped square base. The whole is set on a flat square platform. On the south face of the cross head and shaft is a sword, carved in relief, with three ball clusters to the pommel and ends of the cross guard. The inscriptions, in lead lettering, are on the south face of the memorial in recessed panels.

At the base of the shaft the inscription reads 1914 / THEY DIED / THAT WE / MIGHT LIVE / 1918. On the plinth below are inscribed the names of the thirty-five men of the parish who died during the First World War. Beneath, the date 1939 – 1945 has been added along with the names of the nine men that died during the Second World War. To the top step of the base is inscribed “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS.”

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a path of cut paving stones extends from the south side of the memorial to the boundary wall, which it continues alongside until it reaches the south gateway.

Sources

Websites
Ironville war memorial, accessed 29 January 2018 from http://www.warmemorials.org/search-grants/?gID=1328
Ironville war memorial, accessed 29 January 2018 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/224010
Christ Church - WW1 and WW2 Cross, accessed 29 January 2018 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/14272

Other
'Codnor Park and Ironville War Memorial: unveiling and dedication', in Ripley and Heanor News and Ilkeston Division Free Press, 16 November 1923

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