Burbage War Memorial

Memorial Garden, Junction of Church Street and New Road, Burbage, Leicestershire, LE10 2DA

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Overview

A First World War memorial, erected in 1921, including sculpture by TS Lord and Sons; further names added after the Second World War. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1464981
Date first listed:: 09-Dec-2019
List Entry Name:: Burbage War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Memorial Garden, Junction of Church Street and New Road, Burbage, Leicestershire, LE10 2DA

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1464981
Date first listed:: 09-Dec-2019
List Entry Name:: Burbage War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: Memorial Garden, Junction of Church Street and New Road, Burbage, Leicestershire, LE10 2DA

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:: Memorial Garden, Junction of Church Street and New Road, Burbage, Leicestershire, LE10 2DA

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

County:: Leicestershire
District:: Hinckley and Bosworth (District Authority)
Parish:: Burbage
National Grid Reference:: SP4427892569

Summary

A First World War memorial, erected in 1921, including sculpture by TS Lord and Sons; further names added after the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

The war memorial in Burbage 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 church’s community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest: * for its design, including the well-sculpted marble figure of a mourning soldier.

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. Burbage war memorial was fiercely debated by local residents and businesses at the time of its conception. Some had intended that it be placed in the parish churchyard, but after local protest, the site was changed to the triangular junction where it now stands (the Village Green). The memorial commemorated 54 local servicemen who fell in the First World War and six additional men who died later of the effects of the war.

The statue, a mourning ‘Tommy’ was imported by TS Lord and Sons, of Burbage, from an Italian supplier. It was unveiled on Saturday 26 February, 1921, by Lieutenant Colonel CH Jones CMG TD, and dedicated by the Rector of Burbage, Reverend RDH Pughe.

The memorial was originally fenced in by simple wooden laths and a gate, later altered to be bounded by hedges and railings with an entrance gate to the front. Following the Second World War, the names of 31 servicemen who died in that conflict were added to the memorial.

The gardens were replanted in 1996 and this was commemorated by the addition of a memorial boulder with plaque, that was added behind the main memorial. The memorial was refurbished in late 1999.

Details

A First World War memorial, erected in 1921, including sculpture by TS Lord and Sons; further names added after the Second World War.

MATERIALS: Carrara marble; Bishopgate reconstructed limestone.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial comprises an approximately 1.8m tall marble figure of a First World War infantry soldier, standing easy, leaning on his downturned rifle, on top of a 2.5m tall square-sectioned limestone pedestal with deep cornice and moulded foot. The pedestal bears the inscriptions in leaded lettering.

The inscription is in leaded lettering and reads: TO THE MEMORY OF/ THE BURBAGE MEN/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY/ 1914 – 1919/ (NAMES)/ GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT/ A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS./ (NAMES)/ THE MEN NAMED ABOVE DIED LATER/ FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR/ 1914 – 1918./ IN HONOURED MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF BURBAGE/ WHO DIED WHERE DUTY CALLED/ 1939 – 1945/ (NAMES)

Sources

Websites
Burbage Fallen website, Burbage Heritage Group, accessed 08 October 2019 from http://www.burbageheritage.co.uk/fallen/index.html
Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register: Burbage, accessed 08 October 2019 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/14744
Leicestershire County Council’s Leicestershire & Rutland War Memorials Project website, accessed 08 October 2019 from http://www.leicestershirewarmemorials.co.uk/war/memorials/view/210
War Memorials Online: Burbage War Memorial, WMO232152, accessed 08 October 2019 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/232152/
Other
Burbage War Memorial: Co-op Society and Site of Structure, in Hinckley Echo, Wednesday 15 September 1920, p1
Coverage of war memorial’s unveiling, in Leicester Mercury, 28 February 1921, p4

Legal

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