Northampton War Memorial

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Coordinates: 52°14′14″N 00°53′45″W / 52.23722°N 0.89583°W / 52.23722; -0.89583
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Northampton War Memorial
United Kingdom
For servicemen from Northamptonshire killed in the First and Second World Wars
Unveiled1926
Location52°14′14″N 00°53′45″W / 52.23722°N 0.89583°W / 52.23722; -0.89583
Wood Hill, Northampton, England
Designed bySir Edwin Lutyens
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameThe Town and County War Memorial
Designated22 January 1976
Reference no.1191327

Northampton War Memorial, officially the Town and County War Memorial, is a

First World War memorial on Wood Hill in the centre of Northampton, the county town of Northamptonshire, in central England. Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is a Stone of Remembrance flanked by twin obelisks draped with painted stone flags standing in a small garden in what was once part of the churchyard of All Saints' Church
.

Discussion of a war memorial for Northampton began shortly after the armistice in 1918, and from July 1919 a temporary wooden cenotaph stood on Abington Street in the town centre. The Northamptonshire War Memorial Committee commissioned Lutyens to design a permanent memorial. The monument's design was completed and approved quickly, but its installation was delayed by six years until the site could be purchased from the

faculty from the local diocese
. The memorial was finally unveiled on 11 November 1926 after a service and a parade including local schoolchildren and civic leaders.

Northampton's memorial is one of the more elaborate town memorials in England. It uses three features characteristic of Lutyens's war memorials: a pair of obelisks, the Stone of Remembrance (which Lutyens designed for the

Cenotaph in London but feature on several of his other memorials. Today it is a Grade I listed building
; it was upgraded from Grade II in 2015 when Lutyens's war memorials were declared a "national collection" and all were granted listed building status or had their listing renewed.

Background

The

thankful villages (East Carlton in the north of the county and Woodend in the south). In the war's aftermath, thousands of memorials were built across Britain.[1]

Among the most prominent designers of war memorials was architect

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, the largest British war memorial anywhere in the world; and the Stone of Remembrance (also known as the Great War Stone), which appears in all large Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and forms part of several of his civic memorials, including Northampton's.[2][3][4][5]

Commissioning

The memorial from the west side, with three of the four painted flags visible

Northampton's first war memorial was a temporary cenotaph built from wood and plaster which stood in Abington Street from July 1919 as a placeholder until a more permanent memorial could be erected; the temporary cenotaph was the focal point for remembrance services until the installation of the permanent memorial. As in several towns and cities, there were discussions within the town as to whether its war memorial should serve a purely monumental purpose or some sort of community function. Suggestions included renovating civic buildings, a new 2,000-seat concert hall, and a classical-style arch on Guildhall road. The Northamptonshire War Memorial Committee, chaired by local landowner Lord Lilford, eventually commissioned Lutyens to design a purely commemorative monument, and selected a site in part of the churchyard of All Saints' Church. The memorial was funded by public donations, including a donation of £50 from Lord Lilford.[2][6][7]

Lutyens's designs were complete by 1920 and approved in November of that year, but as the chosen site was part of the churchyard, and several graves would have to be relocated to accommodate the memorial, the war memorial committee had to seek a

faculty from the Diocese of Peterborough (the diocese in whose jurisdiction Northampton falls), which delayed the installation.[2][8] The Reverend Geoffrey Warden, vicar of All Saints' Church, submitted the application in 1922, supported by two church wardens and two parishioners.[9] Construction work commenced only in 1926, six years after the completion of the designs. By July 1926, the Northampton Independent reported that the obelisks had been carved and were waiting for the flags to be painted before they could be erected.[10]

Design

Northampton's is a comparatively elaborate war memorial, especially for a town rather than a city. It consists of a Stone of Remembrance flanked by tall twin obelisks, each adorned with a pair of painted stone flags. Its use of obelisks, a Stone of Remembrance, and painted flags—all features characteristic of Lutyens's war memorials—make it particularly significant among his works.[2][11]

Each obelisk sits on a tall, four-tiered rectangular column which itself stands on a wider, undercut square plinth. The obelisks and their supporting columns are ornately decorated. A narrow cross is set into the obelisks while the town's coat of arms is moulded onto the columns; the columns contain deep decorative

Second World War were added at a later date).[2][8][9][14]

Close-ups of the obelisks showing the decorative carving and the draped stone flags

Two stone flags—painted in the form of the

The Wisdom of Solomon.[2][5][18][19]

The whole memorial is raised on a stone platform that forms a narrow path between the stone and the obelisks. The Stone of Remembrance is further raised on three stone steps. The memorial stands in a small garden now just outside the All Saints' churchyard, defined by a low stone wall to the front and a yew hedge to the rear with ornamental gateways to either side. The gates are of cast iron and supported by large stone piers with urn finials. The wall is inscribed: "TO THE MEMORY OF ALL THOSE OF THIS TOWN AND COUNTY WHO SERVED AND DIED IN THE GREAT WAR".[2][20][21]

History

The Stone of Remembrance in the centre of the memorial; Lutyens designed the stone for the Imperial War Graves Commission's cemeteries but it also features in several of his war memorials.

The memorial was eventually unveiled on 11 November (

Suffragan Bishop of Leicester. Horne committed the memorial to the care of the town's mayor and Northamptonshire County Council, and in his speech referred to Northampton's role as the county town; he observed that communities across Northamptonshire would be erecting their own memorials, but felt that it was "right and fitting that there should stand in the county town some visible monument, some tangible memorial appealing to the heart through the eye, of the bravery, devotion to duty, and self-sacrifice of the men of Northamptonshire".[2] The Prince of Wales laid a wreath during a ceremony on 7 July 1927, the year after the unveiling.[6][21]

The Town and County War Memorial does not contain a list of casualties. The local branch of

the Royal British Legion launched a campaign for a memorial dedicated to the town and containing a list of names. A garden of remembrance was built in Abington Square, the location of the original temporary cenotaph, and unveiled by Major General Sir John Brown in 1937; the names of the fallen were inscribed on the garden walls. The memorial to Edgar Mobbs—a professional rugby player from Northampton who was killed in the First World War in 1917—was moved into the garden.[21][22][23]

The memorial was designated a Grade II* listed building on 22 January 1976.[2] In November 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens's war memorials were recognised as a "national collection". All 44 of his free-standing memorials in England were listed or had their listing status reviewed and their National Heritage List for England list entries updated and expanded. As part of this process, Northampton War Memorial was upgraded to Grade I.[24]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northampton war memorial.

References

Bibliography

Footnotes

  1. ^ Sawford, p. 134.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Historic England. "The Town and County War Memorial (1191327)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  3. ^ Boorman (1988), p. 121.
  4. ^ Ridley, pp. 278–279.
  5. ^ a b Corke p. 57.
  6. ^ a b Boorman (1988), p. 122.
  7. ^ Sawford, pp. 131–133.
  8. ^ a b Skelton, Tim (November 2015). "War Memorial of the Month – November 2015 – Northampton". Memorials of the Great War Exhibition. The Lutyens Trust. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  9. ^ a b Skelton, p. 73.
  10. ^ Skelton, p. 75.
  11. ^ Skelton, pp. 73–74.
  12. ^ Borg, p. 96.
  13. ^ Barnes, pp. 117–118.
  14. ^ Skelton, p. 33.
  15. ^ Skelton, p. 46.
  16. ^ Ridley, p. 311.
  17. ^ Skelton, p. 174.
  18. ^ Skelton, p. 24.
  19. ^ Ridley, p. 278.
  20. ^ Pevsner, p. 319.
  21. ^ a b c Boorman (2005), pp. 166–167.
  22. ^ Boorman (1988), p. 123.
  23. ^ Sawford, p. 136.
  24. ^ "National Collection of Lutyens' War Memorials Listed". Historic England. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
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