Ball Haye Green War Memorial

Ball Haye Green War Memorial, Ball Haye Green Road, Leek, ST13 6PP

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

Overview

A First World War memorial dating to 1922, designed by Mr W E Beacham and built by Thomas Grace and Sons of Leek, with plaques supplied by Messers Baxendale of Manchester. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1487508
Date first listed:: 08-Sep-2023
List Entry Name:: Ball Haye Green War Memorial
Statutory Address:: Ball Haye Green War Memorial, Ball Haye Green Road, Leek, ST13 6PP

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:: 1487508
Date first listed:: 08-Sep-2023
List Entry Name:: Ball Haye Green War Memorial
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: Ball Haye Green War Memorial, Ball Haye Green Road, Leek, ST13 6PP

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:: Ball Haye Green War Memorial, Ball Haye Green Road, Leek, ST13 6PP

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

County:: Staffordshire
District:: Staffordshire Moorlands (District Authority)
Parish:: Leek
National Grid Reference:: SJ9912757292

Summary

A First World War memorial dating to 1922, designed by Mr W E Beacham and built by Thomas Grace and Sons of Leek, with plaques supplied by Messers Baxendale of Manchester.

Reasons for Designation

Ball Haye Green War Memorial, Leek, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it has been designed for its purpose as a sombre, dignified memorial and displays architectural interest through its proportions and decorative mouldings.

Historic interest:

* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and to the sacrifices made in the First World War.

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 at Ball Haye Green in Leek as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the 26 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War and by the 167 who served and returned.

The memorial is located the west side of Ball Haye Green Road, just before it becomes Haregate Road. The monument takes the form of a recreation ground with a stone entrance gate inscribed with the names of the fallen and those who served and returned. The cost of purchasing, preparing and fencing the land, as well as the construction of the stone gateway came to just under £1000, with this sum being raised by public subscription and a series of fundraising events.

The gateway was designed by the town surveyor, Mr W E Beacham and built by the local builders Thomas Grace and Sons. The bronze tablets for the inscriptions were supplied by Messers Baxendale of Manchester. The memorial was unveiled on 5 November 1922 by Lieutenant Colonel Challinor, and the dedication was made by the vicar of St Luke’s Church, Rev J A Howell.

Details

A First World War memorial dating to 1922, designed by Mr W E Beacham and built by Thomas Grace and Sons of Leek, with plaques supplied by Messers Baxendale of Manchester.

PLAN: rectangular gate piers with narrower flanking walls, orientated north-east / south-west aligned with the road.

MATERIALS: Alderley Edge sandstone in ashlar to the arch, wall coping and quoins, vermiculated sandstone to the blocks in the walls. Bronze plaques.

EXTERIOR: the gate faces south-east to Ball Haye Green. It has two square columned gateposts with deep plinth bases. These support a segmental arch with an embossed keystone over which is a frieze bearing the inscription ‘PRO PATRIA’. The arch encloses a replacement iron gate and is flanked by short scroll-topped stone walls. The columns have a carved wreath below their stepped tops, the wreath on the southern contains the date ‘1914’, the northern wreath the date ‘1919’. Below the wreaths are bronze plaques each with a Tudor Rose embossed at the top. On the plaques below the roses are the inscriptions containing the names of individuals. The names are arranged alphabetically by surname with initials, and grouped into those who lost their lives, and those who served and returned. The inscription on the south column reads:

‘TO THE MEMORY OF THE / FOLLOWING RESIDENTS OF / BALL HAYE GREEN / WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES / IN THE EUROPEAN WAR (26 names in two columns) / THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE / AND/ IN HONOUR OF THOSE RESIDENTS / WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY (39 OF 167 names in three columns)’ To the north column, the word ‘SERVED’ is inscribed at the top, the remainder of the 167 names are in three columns below.

Sources

Websites
Imperial War Museums War Memorials Register website ref 13696: Ball Haye Green , accessed 3 August 2023 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/13696
Staffordshire Past Track website photograph: Ball Haye Green War Memorial, Leek, photograph 1925-30, accessed 3 August 2023 from https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=26895&PageIndex=1&KeyWord=ball%20haye%20green&SortOrder=2
War Memorials Online Website: Ball Haye Green WW1, accessed 25 August 2023 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/296494/
Other
Leek TImes, 11 November 1922: Ball Haye Green War Memorial

Legal

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