Elworth War Memorial, Sandbach, Cheshire East

Summary

First World War memorial of 1920 with Second World War names.

Description

First World War memorial of 1920 with additional names of the Second World War.

MATERIALS: Portland stone.

PLAN: standing on an octagonal base.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial, which is approximately 5m tall, faces west and comprises a statue of a soldier standing atop a pilastered square column with podium, on a low square step. This rests on an octagonal York stone base, on a six-sided ground also paved in York stone. The soldier wears a cap, and is standing easy with rifle held in the right hand with butt resting on a small square pedestal. His lower half emerges from a rock stump to the rear. The column has a moulded cornice with dentil course. Below this it is rusticated, with an ashlar pilaster with its own finial, egg-and-dart corniced capital, channelled base and plinth. At the left and right are visible the sides of the pilasters on the north and south faces. Below the column is a podium with moulded cornice and plinth. The front of the podium bears an inscription in fixed bronze lettering:

IN MEMORY OF/ THE SAILORS AND SOLDIERS OF THIS PARISH WHO/ FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918

Below this, arranged in two vertical columns, are the 20 names of the fallen of the First World War. These are arranged alphabetically, mostly with ranks and full names given.

The left and right returns are identical to the front, with an upper inscription of the dates of the Second World War, and each with 10 names listed below (also alphabetically listed, beginning on the right return). The rear is identical but for the rock stump concealing the statue’s legs, and with no inscription.

The enclosure is surrounded by low walls of brown brick laid in Flemish bond, with flat-topped, twice-weathered sandstone copings. Either side of the wide entrance from the street, the walls terminate in square piers of the same height. At the corners of the returns of the wall are 2m-tall piers with plinths, and corniced stone caps with the circular bases of missing funerary urns. Beyond each of these, and linked to them by half-height walls, are identical piers which retain their urns. The half-height walls, and the side and rear walls of the enclosure, are topped by railings with ball tips.

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, both as a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was erected in Elworth. It is reported that the memorial was unveiled on 16 May 1920, attended by local clergy and dignitaries (IWM), but no details have been found regarding the ceremony. The side panels contain the names of the fallen of the Second World War, added after 1945. The memorial is however not marked in its current location on the 1946 Ordnance Survey 1:10,600 map, based on a survey revised in 1938; this is the earliest map published after the First World War. It is thought that the surrounding low walls are contemporary, but that the railings are a modern addition (probably replacing earlier railings). The inner brick piers of the enclosure appear to have lost urns like those that remain on the outer piers. The memorial stands within a dedicated enclosure in the western corner of Elworth Gardens, a small park.

Reasons for Listing

Elworth War Memorial, a First World War memorial of 1920 with Second World War names added, 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:
* for its life-like statue and classically-detailed column and plinth, and little-altered enclosure.

External Links

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