South Elmsall and Moorthorpe War Memorial

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

First World War memorial, 1923, by Wilfrid Bond of Grantham. Second World War inscriptions added later. Market-cross style design. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1460140
Date first listed:: 26-Oct-2018
List Entry Name:: South Elmsall and Moorthorpe War Memorial

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1460140
Date first listed:: 26-Oct-2018
List Entry Name:: South Elmsall and Moorthorpe War Memorial
Location Description:: Barnsley Road, South Elmsall, Pontefract, West Yorkshire

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

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

District:: Wakefield (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: South Elmsall
National Grid Reference:: SE4680711091

Summary

First World War memorial, 1923, by Wilfrid Bond of Grantham. Second World War inscriptions added later. Market-cross style design

Reasons for Designation

South Elmsall and Moorthorpe war memorial, erected in 1923, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* it has strong cultural and historic significance within both a local and national context, and is an eloquent witness to the impact of tragic world events on this local community and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest:

* it has an elegant market-cross design with carved decoration;

* it was designed by Wilfrid Bond of Grantham, a notable regional architect who specialised in ecclesiastical and commemorative commissions.

History

A war memorial in South Elmsall was first proposed in 1920, but it was not until 1923 that plans came to fruition. The war memorial was intended to commemorate men from both the town of South Elmsall and the nearby village of Moorthorpe who had died during the First World War. Most of the local men commemorated were from the 49th and 62nd (West Riding) Infantry Divisions and were miners from Frickley Colliery.

The memorial was designed by Wilfrid Bond (1870-1935) of Grantham, Lincolnshire who trained under Charles Kirk, John Loughborough Pearson and Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, set up his own practice in 1902, and who specialised in historic restorations and ecclesiastical commissions. The memorial cost £450, which was largely funded by public subscription, and the land for the memorial was donated by the Carlton Main Colliery Company who owned Frickley Colliery.

The war memorial was unveiled on 2 July 1923 by Major-General A A Kennedy CB CMG GOC West Riding, and was dedicated by Rev H F Elgood who had served as Chaplain with the 49th Division. The names of those killed during the Second World War were added later.

Details

First World War memorial, 1923, by Wilfrid Bond of Grantham. Second World War inscriptions added later. Market-cross style design

MATERIALS: limestone with a sandstone base and polished-granite plaques.

South Elmsall and Moorthorpe war memorial is located alongside Barnsley Road, at the junction with Dearne Street. The memorial, which is constructed of limestone, is in the style of a market cross and is set upon a hexagonal four-stepped sandstone base. A tall hexagonal plinth with crenellation-style carving and Tudor-flower decoration to the top has a black polished-granite plaque to each face with gilded lettering bearing the names of those killed during the First and Second World Wars; four plaques commemorate the 172 men lost during the First World War and two plaques commemorate the 73 men lost during the Second World War. The plaque to the front (north-west) face also incorporates an inscription that reads 'TO THE GREATER/ GLORY OF GOD/ THIS CROSS/ IS ERECTED/ IN MEMORY OF/ THOSE WHO GAVE/ THEIR LIVES/ FROM/ SOUTH ELMSALL/ AND/ MOORTHORPE/ IN THE/ WORLD WARS/ 1914-18 1939-45'. The plinth supports a slender tapering hexagonal shaft that also has crenellation to the top and is surmounted by a floriated cross. The shaft incorporates a gableted niche to the front (north-west) face containing a statue of St George, and adorning the shaft's alternate faces are small reliefs, some of which possibly originally represented regimental badges, but are now heavily weather worn.

Sources

Websites
'South Elmsall War Memorial' in Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 3 July 1923, accessed 14 September 2018 from https:www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000250/19230703/125/0004

Legal

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