Byfleet War Memorial

Summary

First World War memorial, erected in about 1924 to the design of the architect Gerald Warren by the builder Walter George Tarrant with further inscriptions added following the Second World War in 1974.

Reasons for Designation

Byfleet War Memorial, erected in about 1924 to the design of the architect Gerald Warren by the builder Walter George Tarrant, 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.

Group value:

* with the adjacent Grade II-listed Byfleet fire station, which was built in 1885 to serve a local volunteer fire brigade, within Byfleet Village Conservation Area.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw a huge wave of public commemoration with tens of thousands of memorials erected across the country. One such memorial was erected to the design of the architect Gerald Warren (1881-1936) in about 1924 in Byfleet, Surrey. Warren set up practice in 1908 in partnership with Sydney Ernest Castle (1883-1955) as Castle and Warren before a partnership with Herbert Lidbetter. His works include Anningsley Park, Ottershaw, Surrey, and Ranmore, West Byfleet, Surrey. Warren worked with the master builder and developer Walter George Tarrant (1875-1942) on the St George’s Hill estate, Weybridge, Surrey, as well as this memorial. During the First World War, Tarrant’s company notably manufactured large numbers of prefabricated wooden huts for military use on the Western Front and also designed and constructed the Tarrant Tabor triplane bomber, briefly the world's largest aircraft. The company employed 5,000 people at Byfleet in the 1920s and had a reputation for high quality materials and good workmanship. 

The land on which the memorial stands was the former site of the village pound and lock up. Byfleet War Memorial takes the design and form of a cenotaph (although it is not in fact an empty tomb as in the cenotaphs at Westminster and Southampton). The memorial commemorates 72 members of the local community who lost their lives during the First World War. Two additional memorial plaques were added after the Second World War in 1974 to commemorate 14 people who died in that conflict. The plaques were repaired in 1983 and cleaned in 2004. The war memorial is located near to The Old Fire Station, which was built in 1885 to serve a local volunteer fire brigade and is Grade II-listed. It is within the Byfleet Village Conservation Area.

Details

First World War memorial, erected in about 1924 to the design of the architect Gerald Warren by the builder Walter George Tarrant with further inscriptions added following the Second World War in 1974.

MATERIALS: built of red brick with Portland stone dressings and bronze plaques.

DESCRIPTION: the war memorial stands at the corner of High Road and Chertsey Road. It takes the design and form of a cenotaph; a monument erected in honour of the Fallen of Byfleet, many of whose remains are elsewhere. The memorial is rectangular in plan and has a stone base, a brick plinth with a stone coping, and then the main shaft in red brick which is surmounted by several stepped ashlar courses; a representation of a tomb. Mounted onto the west side of the monument is a large bronze plaque, which is inscribed: 1914/ 1918/ THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED/ TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE MEN OF/ THE PARISH OF BYFLEET/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR/ NOT GRUDGINGLY OR OF NECESSITY/ BUT THAT TRUTH AND JUSTICE MIGHT PREVAIL/ (NAMES)/ WE GRATEFULLY HONOUR AND REMEMBER THESE NAMES. At the foot of the monument, beneath the bronze plaque, is an ashlar tablet with a moulded top. It has an incised inscription set on a fielded panel: THE MEN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE/ WHO WERE KILLED IN ACTION OR/ DIED OF WOUNDS DURING THE/ GREAT WAR NUMBERED 908,371. Two small bronze plaques placed to each side of the main plaque are inscribed with the dates 1939 and 1945 and the names of 14 people who died during the Second World War.

Sources

Websites
Traces of War: War Memorial Byfleet, accessed 6 December 2022 from https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/18946/War-Memorial-Byfleet.htm
Byfleet Heritage Society: Byfleet’s Memorials, accessed 6 December 2022 from https://www.byfleetheritage.org.uk/Memorial.htm
With the British Army in Flanders & France: Byfleet War Memorial, accessed 6 December 2022 from http://thebignote.com/2011/09/05/byfleet-war-memorial/
Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, accessed 6 February 2023 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/23502
War Memorials Online, accessed 6 February 2023 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/201297/
Surrey in the Great War: Byfleet War Memorial, accessed 6 February 2023 from https://www.surreyinthegreatwar.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHMEM_W_M_3
Royal Academy of Arts: The 156th exhibition of the Royal Academy (1924), Exhibition Catalogue., accessed 6 February 2023 from https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/exhibition-catalogue/ra-sec-vol156-1924
Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950, accessed 6 February 2023 from https://architecture.arthistoryresearch.net/architects/warren-gerald

Other
OS Maps (1:2500): 1896, 1945
The Builder, 6 June 1924, pp 908
Surrey County Council HER Record Number: 20409 – MSE20409

End of official list entry

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