Lees, Cross Roads and Bocking Memorial Building, Haworth, Bradford

Summary

First World War memorial and pavilion, 1921, Arts and Crafts style design by Albert Thompson.

Description

First World War memorial pavilion, 1921, Arts and Crafts style design by Albert Thompson.

MATERIALS: dressed gritstone blocks, Welsh slate clad roof, with red terracotta ridge tiles.

PLAN: sub-rectangular, with canted corners to the main elevation.

EXTERIOR: a single-storey, three-bay building under a hipped roof; all windows are multiple timber casements. The lower three courses of the walls are built of narrow quarry-faced blocks and the remainder are of dressed and pecked gritstone blocks, with flush ashlar window sills, door lintels, and moulded ashlar drip moulds over the doors. The front (north-west) elevation has canted corners each with a top hung window, and a central double-height four-light bow window with a semi-conical roof, flanked to either side by four-light windows. All of these windows are protected against vandalism by painted steel wire grilles. The right and left returns each have a doorway with a plain timber door, flanked by a keyed ashlar oval window (now boarded over). The south-western doorway has an ashlar verge. The rear elevation is plain apart from two four-light windows, with ashlar flush sills. The hipped roof is clad with graduated slates and has red terracotta ridge tiles, with end flashing to the ridge. The semi-conical bay window roof also has red ridge tiles with flashing to the side valleys. The ridge tiles of the ridge and those of the semi-conical bay window have rolled tops, while those to the corners are plain. The centre of the rear slope of the roof has a three-light skylight that illuminates the memorial sanctuary. The ends of the roof rafters are exposed in the eaves and have notched rounded ends attached to the fascia boards that support the cast-iron guttering. There is a mixture of original cast-iron and secondary black plastic down pipes.

INTERIOR: there is a centrally placed stone-walled enclosure (memorial sanctuary) built against the rear wall that separates a pair of rectangular-plan end bays (shelters), and an open space (verandah) to the front. The walls are un-rendered pecked gritstone blocks, the floor is concrete, and the ceiling is painted tongue and groove boards, which extends down to form a simple cornice. The boards above the windows in the north-west wall extend further down to the top of the window reveals. The two rear windows and the end wall doorways each have a painted broken pediment lintel; that to the south-west door, has a painted plaque attached to it and the door is flanked by two brass plaques attached to the wall, commemorating the re-opening of the pavilion in June 2000.

The memorial sanctuary is formed in the space between the two shelters. The ends of its walls take the form of ashlar pilasters that support a plain frieze, with a moulded cornice and an open-bed triangular pediment. The sanctuary is entered through a pair of glazed doors with brass handles, set in a glazed timber screen, flanked by glazed and decorated timber panels. An ashlar memorial panel is attached to the rear wall of the sanctuary; it has a projecting plinth and consists of five columns of black painted inscribed names, separated by intaglio carved and gilded pilasters, beneath a cornice and an open-bed segmental pediment. Black painted lettering within the pediment reads LEES, CROSS ROADS & BOCKING / WAR MEMORIAL and a carved laurel wreath with gilded figures reading 1914 1918 is situated at its centre. The outer four columns form a Roll of Honour listing 217 names beneath two headings that read NAMES OF MEN WHO SERVED, the central column lists the 39 Fallen beneath a heading that reads NAMES OF MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES, with the dedication THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE at the base, beneath an intaglio carved and gilded open-bed segmental pediment. The memorial panel is lit from above by a three-light timber-framed skylight resting on a moulded timber cornice.

The north-eastern shelter has lost its original seating and is now fitted with a modern tea bar with parquet flooring and a disabled toilet cubicle. The south-western shelter retains its original stained timber bench that has a tongue and groove boarded back and cabriole legs. A similar bench without a back is situated opposite it, beneath the glazed front wall of the building.

History

The land for Cross Roads Park was given to the village of Cross Roads, by a local mill owner Thomas Haggas, to provide a memorial park as a living memorial to the Fallen of the First World War, and for the recreation of the local community and returning veterans. The Lees, Cross Roads and Bocking War Memorial Committee oversaw the design and building of the park, and it was decided to employ a local architect Albert Thompson to design a pavilion/rest house, containing a war memorial sanctuary to form the focal point of the park. The memorial commemorated the 217 local men who had served their country and the 39 who had died during the conflict. The memorial park comprised lawned areas and flower borders, with paths and bench seating, and a recreation ground with a children’s play area, a tennis court, and a bowling green.

The building was intended to function as a place for quiet contemplation and commemoration, and as a park pavilion. As originally designed, it was also intended to include ladies’ and gents' toilets to the rear of the building, but upon completion, the toilets had been deleted. The building was initially called a ‘rest house’ and was known as such at the time of the official opening on 16 July 1921. Original plans show that the interior comprised a rear, centrally placed, enclosed sanctuary housing the war memorial tablets, flanked to either side by seated, open-fronted 'shelters', and to the front was a linear open space termed a ‘verandah’.

The opening ceremony was very well attended, with music provided by the Keighley Borough Band and the united choirs of St James’s Church, Cross Roads Primitive Methodists, and Bocking Wesleyan Chapel. Mr Haggas was the guest of honour, the dedication was led by the Rev J Wood, and the opening of both the recreation ground and the unveiling of the Roll of Honour was undertaken by Major A B Clarkson, DSO, MC. Afterwards a hundred ex-servicemen were treated to a ‘meat tea’, to which the widows and families of those who had died were also invited.

The Lees, Cross Roads, and Bocking War Memorial Building continues to be the focus of remembrance for the community on Remembrance Sunday, with church services being held at St James Parish Church and Lees Methodist Church, before congregations converge at the memorial for a short service, and to lay wreaths. Since the early 1990s, the memorial building has been used as the home and pavilion of the Cross Roads Crown Green Bowling Club, and is well used by The Friends of Cross Roads Park, who host various events throughout the year.

Reasons for Listing

Lees, Cross Roads and Bocking War Memorial Building is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* an unusual building design, intended from the outset to have a dual role as a war memorial and as a park pavilion;

* the building is executed in good quality materials, with careful attention to its design and detailing; the inclusion of a sanctuary with a classical-style pediment and glazed panel screen is a remarkable and rare feature.

Historic interest:

* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community and the sacrifice it made in the First World War;

* it has a social significance, being the focus of a memorial park created by a local mill owner for the benefit of the wider community.

External Links

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