Rochdale Cenotaph

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Coordinates: 53°36′58″N 2°09′35″W / 53.616238°N 2.159743°W / 53.616238; -2.159743
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Rochdale Cenotaph
United Kingdom
For servicemen from Rochdale killed in the First World War
Unveiled1922; 102 years ago (1922)
Location53°36′58″N 2°09′35″W / 53.616238°N 2.159743°W / 53.616238; -2.159743
Rochdale town centre, Greater Manchester, England
Designed bySir Edwin Lutyens
TO THE MEMORY OF THE MEN OF ROCHDALE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR / THEY WERE A WALL UNTO US BOTH BY NIGHT AND BY DAY
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameRochdale Cenotaph
Designated12 February 1985
Reference no.1084274

Rochdale Cenotaph is a First World War memorial on the Esplanade in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in the north west of England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is one of seven memorials in England based on his Cenotaph in London and one of his more ambitious designs. The memorial was unveiled in 1922 and consists of a raised platform bearing Lutyens' characteristic Stone of Remembrance next to a 10-metre (33 ft) pylon topped by an effigy of a recumbent soldier. A set of painted stone flags surrounds the pylon.

A public meeting in February 1919 established a consensus to create a monument and a fund for the families of wounded servicemen. The meeting agreed to commission Lutyens to design the monument. His design for a bridge over the River Roch was abandoned after a local dignitary purchased a plot of land adjacent to Rochdale Town Hall and donated it for the site of the memorial. Lutyens revised his design, and Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, unveiled the memorial on 26 November 1922. It is a Grade I listed structure, having been upgraded in 2015 when Lutyens' war memorials were declared a national collection.

Background

In the aftermath of the

First World War and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain. Almost all towns and cities erected some form of memorial to commemorate their fallen. The mayor of Rochdale called a public meeting on 10 February 1919, three months after the armistice, to discuss proposals for the town's commemorations. Consensus was that the town should have a monument and a fund to provide for wounded servicemen, their families, and the families of the 2,000 war dead from Rochdale. Public subscription raised £29,443 10s, covering the £12,611 cost of the memorial.[1][2]

Commissioning

The public meeting in February 1919 agreed to appoint

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme in France and many other memorials in Britain and the Commonwealth.[1][3][4][5]

Lutyens proposed a memorial bridge crossing the

Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries but it also features in several of his war memorials. Rochdale's cenotaph is among seven others by Lutyens in England based on the one on Whitehall, and is among the most ambitious of his designs to come to fruition.[1][2]

Design

The war memorial comprises a cenotaph beside a Stone of Remembrance

The memorial was constructed by Hobson Limited of Nottingham. While many First World War memorials feature sculpture or overt religious symbolism, Rochdale's, like many of Lutyens' memorials, uses abstract and ecumenical shapes inspired by

Union Flag and the White Ensign on the southwest side, and the Royal Air Force Ensign and the Red Ensign on the northeast. The flags flank a second, smaller, tier which has a semi-column at either end and which culminates in a smaller plinth supporting a catafalque. At the top is a sculpture of a recumbent soldier draped with his coat. The design for the pylon is based on Lutyens' Midland Railway War Memorial, unveiled in Derby in 1921.[1][4][8] Painted stone flags are a recurring feature in Lutyens' war memorial designs. He first proposed them for Whitehall's Cenotaph, where they were rejected in favour of fabric flags, but they appear on several of his other memorials including Northampton War Memorial and Leicester's Arch of Remembrance.[9]

The memorial is not strictly a cenotaph as the sculpture at the top is a human figure rather than an empty tomb.

First Book of Samuel, chapter 25, verse 16, selected from suggestions made by readers of the Rochdale Observer.[1][13]

The Stone of Remembrance lies to the southeast between the cenotaph and the town hall, raised above the platform by three steps. It is inscribed: THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE. Other inscriptions commemorating the dead of the Second World War were added later, including a bronze plaque reading TO ALL THOSE WHO DIED / IN THE / SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY.[1][14][15][16] The use of a cenotaph with a Stone of Remembrance at its feet is reminiscent of Southampton Cenotaph, Lutyens' first to come to fruition.[17] The surrounding memorial gardens are dedicated to the members of the Lancashire Fusiliers and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and serve as Rochdale's memorial to the Second World War.[1][15]

  • Detail of parts of the memorial
  • Northeast flags and carved wreath enclosing the arms of Rochdale
    Northeast flags and carved wreath enclosing the arms of Rochdale
  • Sculpture on top of the memorial
    Sculpture on top of the memorial
  • Southwest flags and carved wreath enclosing the arms of Rochdale
    Southwest flags and carved wreath enclosing the arms of Rochdale

History

The cenotaph, with the tower of Rochdale Town Hall in the background

Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, unveiled the memorial on Sunday 26 November 1922 and the Archdeacon of Rochdale gave a dedication.[1] Derby was a descendant of a Lancashire family involved in local politics for generations. He served in various public offices during the First World War, including Director General of Recruiting and Secretary of State for War, before being appointed Britain's ambassador to France at the end of the war. Two years after unveiling the Rochdale memorial, Lord Derby presided over the unveiling of Manchester Cenotaph, another Lutyens design.[2] Restoration work was carried out on the memorial in 2019, for which the companies involved were nominated for awards due to the quality of the work.[18]

The memorial was vandalised in November 2023—the words "Free Palestine" were daubed across it in red spray paint. Two teenagers were arrested and charged with criminal damage. In a separate incident, several wreaths laid at the cenotaph were damaged. As a result, the police placed the cenotaph under guard in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.[19][20][21]

Rochdale Cenotaph was designated as a Grade II listed building on 12 February 1985, the designation noting the cenotaph's visual relationship with Rochdale Town Hall, Rochdale Post Office, and a set of lamp posts (each of which are listed in their own right).[1] The status offers legal protection from demolition or modification; Grade II is applied to structures of "special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them", about 92 per cent of listed buildings. In November 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens' war memorials were recognised as a "national collection". All his free-standing memorials in England were listed or had their listing status reviewed and National Heritage List for England entries were updated and expanded. As a result, Rochdale Cenotaph was upgraded to Grade I, which is applied to around 2.5% of listed buildings, those of "the greatest historic interest".[22][23]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rochdale War Memorial.

References

Bibliography

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Historic England. "Rochdale Cenotaph (1084274)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Skelton, p. 63.
  3. ^ Skelton, pp. 24–25.
  4. ^ a b Amery et al., p. 148.
  5. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34638. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  6. ^ Winter, pp. 102–104.
  7. ^ Borg, p. 96.
  8. ^ King, p 150.
  9. ^ Ridley, p. 311.
  10. ^ Amery et al., pp. 154–155.
  11. ^ King, p. 139.
  12. ^ Carden-Coyne, p. 155.
  13. ^ Boorman, p. 124.
  14. ^ "Rochdale Cenotaph". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  15. ^ a b Pevsner, p. 597.
  16. ^ Wyke, pp. 323–324.
  17. ^ Brown, p. 175.
  18. ^ "Civic pride as Cenotaph restoration up for top awards". Rochdale Online. 26 March 2019.
  19. ^ Pilling, Kim (10 November 2023). "Two charged after Rochdale cenotaph daubed with 'Free Palestine' graffiti". The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  20. ^ Badshah, Nadeem (7 November 2023). "Police guard Rochdale cenotaph after graffiti and damage to wreaths reported". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  21. ^ "Police guard memorial in Rochdale after it was daubed with 'Free Palestine' graffiti". BBC News. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  22. ^ "The Listing and Grading of War Memorials". Historic England. July 2015. p. 2. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  23. ^ "National Collection of Lutyens' War Memorials Listed". Historic England. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
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