Salhouse War Memorial

Summary

First World War memorial, erected c1920, with Second World War additions.

Reasons for Designation

Salhouse War Memorial, erected around 1920, with Second World War additions, 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 conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest:

* as an accomplished and well-realised war memorial which takes the form of an elaborately carved Celtic wheel-head cross atop a trapezoidal plinth.

Group value:

* with the neighbouring Church of All Saints (listed Grade I).

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 was raised in around 1920 in the Norfolk parish of Salhouse, on a grass verge immediately adjacent to the churchyard of the Church of All Saints (listed Grade I), as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 19 local servicemen.

Following the Second World War the names of five local servicemen who died in that conflict were added to the memorial.

Details

First World War memorial, erected c1920, with Second World War additions.

MATERIALS: of stone.

DESCRIPTION: the war memorial stands on a grass verge on the east side of Bell Lane, immediately to the west of the churchyard to the Church of All Saints (listed Grade I). It comprises an elaborately carved Celtic wheel-head cross which is embellished with the relief carvings of the head of Christ and a cross at its centre. Each arm has a symbolic image carved on to it, presumed to be of a rose, an iris, a vine and a passion flower, and at the top there is a small, ridged canopy. The shaft has a further three panels of relief carving, each being a different style of Celtic knot-work. Beneath, the trapezoidal plinth has a moulded cap which bears the first word of the inscription, with the rest of the inscription being inserted onto the main body of the plinth. Below this is a two-stepped base. The whole structure stands on a concrete foundation.

The First World War dedicatory inscription is inscribed on the plinth’s moulded cap and south-west face and reads ‘ERECTED / BY THE PARISHIONERS OF SALHOUSE / IN PROUD AND LOVING MEMORY OF THE / MEN WHO FELL DURING THE GREAT WAR / 1914 TO 1919 / [Names] / THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE’.

On the plinth's north-east face is the Second World War dedication which is inscribed ‘1939 TO 1945 / [Names]’.

Sources

Websites
Information on Salhouse War Memorial from the Imperial War Museum’s War Memorials Register, accessed 17 January 2018 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/20189
Information on Salhouse War Memorial from the War Memorials Online website, accessed 17 January 2018 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/253951/
Information on Salhouse War Memorial from the Roll of Honour Website, accessed 17 January 2018 from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Salhouse.html

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