Walsall Wood War Memorial

St John's Churchyard, High Street, Walsall Wood, Walsall, WS9 9LP

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

Overview

First World War memorial, 1920s. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1462118
Date first listed:: 13-Mar-2019
List Entry Name:: Walsall Wood War Memorial
Statutory Address:: St John's Churchyard, High Street, Walsall Wood, Walsall, WS9 9LP

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:: 1462118
Date first listed:: 13-Mar-2019
List Entry Name:: Walsall Wood War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: St John's Churchyard, High Street, Walsall Wood, Walsall, WS9 9LP

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

Statutory Address:: St John's Churchyard, High Street, Walsall Wood, Walsall, WS9 9LP

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

District:: Walsall (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SK0472503233

Summary

First World War memorial, 1920s.

Reasons for Designation

Walsall Wood War Memorial 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 conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest:

* as a well-composed memorial with good quality decorative detailing, which survives unaltered.

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 at Walsall Wood as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War. Details of the erection of the memorial are unknown, though it was likely to have been built within the few years after the war ended, and to have been paid for by public subscription. The memorial was originally enclosed by low rails on granite corner posts; these have been removed.

Details

First World War memorial, 1920s.

PLAN: the memorial stands in the churchyard to the south-east of St John’s Church.

MATERIALS: constructed from limestone.

DESCRIPTION: it takes the form of a stone Celtic cross with knotwork carved in relief on the south-east face of the cross head. The tapering cross shaft rises from a moulded plinth on a two-stepped base. The south-east face of the cross shaft bears in inscription in lead lettering: ‘TO THE / GLORY OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY OF THE / WALSALL WOOD MEN / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR / HONOUR AND FREEDOM / IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1918 / ‘GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN / THAN THIS / THAT A MAN LAY DOWN / HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS’ / THEIR DEEDS WILL LIVE / FOR EVERMORE’. The names of the First World War fallen, numbering 112, are listed on the other three faces of the plinth. A further name is recorded on the south-east face of the top step of the base.

Sources

Websites
'St John's Church Walsall Wood' (ref WMO164433), War Memorials Online, accessed 18/12/2018 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/164433
'Walsall Wood Church Cross', Imperial War Memorials Register, accessed 18/12/2018 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/17635

Legal

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