War Memorial in St Lawrence's Churchyard, Appleby

Summary

First World War memorial cross, unveiled on 11 September 1921.

Reasons for Designation

Appleby War Memorial Cross, which stands in the churchyard of the Church of St Lawrence, 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 First World War.

Architectural interest:

* an elaborately decorated memorial cross, in the Celtic style;
* unusually, the memorial has not been adapted for Second World War commemoration, and thus retains its original design intent.

Group value:

* with the Grade I-listed Parish Church of St Lawrence, the Grade II*-listed The Cloisters and a number of other Grade II-listed buildings along Bridge Street.

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 in St Lawrence’s churchyard at Appleby-in-Westmorland as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 51 local men and one woman, Nurse Hilda Hodgson VAD (d1918), who died during the First World War.

The initial proposal for a war memorial in the town was to erect a memorial cross in the churchyard outside the Parish Church of St Lawrence (Grade I-listed). However, the local branch of The National Federation of Discharged Soldiers and Sailors objected strongly to the proposed location. Due to the disagreement it was eventually determined that the town would have two memorials: the cross in the churchyard and a memorial obelisk in the municipal cemetery. More names are recorded on the cemetery obelisk than the churchyard cross.

A faculty for the erection of the memorial cross was granted on 25 February 1921. The memorial was sculpted by WJ Woof, stonemason. It was unveiled on 11 September 1921 by Major Nanson and dedicated by the Bishop of Carlisle.

Details

The war memorial cross is located to the south of the Grade I-listed Parish Church of St Lawrence and near to the Grade II*-listed The Cloisters. It is also in close proximity to a number of Grade II-listed buildings along Bridge Street.

The memorial takes the form of a stone wheel-head cross with richly carved interlace patterns carved in relief to the south face of the cross-head and shaft. The cross shaft rises from a tapering plinth, square on plan, surmounting a two-stepped square base. All lettering is incised.

The principal dedicatory inscription to the south face of the plinth reads IN MEMORY/ OF THOSE FROM THE PARISHES/ OF ST LAWRENCE & ST MICHAEL/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR./ 1914 - 1918./ "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE". Fifty-one commemorated names are recorded on the remaining faces of the plinth, with one soldier’s name recorded to the north face of the upper-step of the base.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 19 March 2018 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/3053
War Memorials Online, accessed 19 March 2018 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/168185/
‘The Appleby Legion’, Appleby-in-Westmorland Society, accessed 19 March 2018 from http://www.appleby-in-westmorland-society.org.uk/article_item.php?id=85
'The Women Left Behind.' Appleby-in-Westmorland Society, accessed 1 May 2018 from http://www.appleby-in-westmorland-society.org.uk/article_item.php?id=79

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