Witnesham War Memorial

The Street, Witnesham, Suffolk, IP6 9HN

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

Overview

First World War memorial, erected around 1920, with Second World War and later additions. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1468295
Date first listed:: 29-Jan-2020
List Entry Name:: Witnesham War Memorial
Statutory Address:: The Street, Witnesham, Suffolk, IP6 9HN

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1468295
Date first listed:: 29-Jan-2020
List Entry Name:: Witnesham War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: The Street, Witnesham, Suffolk, IP6 9HN

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:: The Street, Witnesham, Suffolk, IP6 9HN

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

County:: Suffolk
District:: East Suffolk (District Authority)
Parish:: Witnesham
National Grid Reference:: TM1835350184

Summary

First World War memorial, erected around 1920, with Second World War and later additions.

Reasons for Designation

Witnesham 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 impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest:

* as a simple but well-executed Celtic wheel-head cross.

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 the Suffolk village of Witnesham as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the 13 local servicemen who lost their lives in the First World War.

The names of three parishioners who fell during the Second World War and one man who lost his life during the Cyprus Emergency (1955-1959) were subsequently added to the memorial.

Details

First World War memorial, erected around 1920, with Second World War and later additions.

MATERIAL: stone.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial stands in a prominent roadside position on the west side of The Street, at its junction with Hall Lane. It takes the form of a plain Celtic wheel-head cross atop a tall shaft which tapers in rectangular section from a trapezoidal plinth. The plinth stands on a three-stepped base of which the top step is stone while the lower two steps are of concrete. Surrounding the memorial is a gravelled area enclosed by concrete kerb stones.

The main inscription is in incised lettering on the plinth's south-east face and reads IN HONOURED MEMORY OF / THE MEN CONNECTED WITH / THIS PARISH WHO FELL IN THE / 1914 GREAT WAR 1918 / [NAMES).

An additional inscription on the north-east face reads 1939–1945 / [NAMES] while an inscription on the south-west face reads CYPRUS 1956 / [NAME].

Sources

Websites
Information on Witnesham War Memorial from the Imperial War Museum's War Memorials Register, accessed 3 December 2019 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/5605
Information on Witnesham War Memorial from the Roll of Honour website, accessed 3 December 2019 from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Suffolk/Witnesham.html
Information on Witnesham War Memorial from the War Memorials Online website, accessed 3 December 2019 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/263597

Legal

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