Summary

A World War One war memorial, erected in 1920, with later additions to commemorate the fallen of World War Two.

Description

The monument takes the form of a wheel cross with flared arms above a finely-carved moulded collar, on a tapering hexagonal shaft set on a three-tiered base with mouldings and offsets. The whole is set on a platform of three steps, and is approximately 5m high. The upper section of the base is inscribed TO THE / GLORY OF / GOD on the principal face; the remaining faces of this section are blank. Below this is inscribed AND IN PROUD AND / LOVING MEMORY OF / THE MEN OF / HAWKESBURY / WHO DIED FOR ENGLAND / 1914-1918. The remaining sides of this part of the base are inscribed with the 32 names of those who fell in World War One. The principal face of the lowest part of the base is inscribed 1939-1945. The flanking faces are inscribed with the names of the fallen from World War Two.

The memorial is surrounded by a wall of rubble stone brought to course, enclosing an area which is hexagonal on plan. The walls have moulded copings, and the piers at the angles have pyramidal caps. The area between the platform of the memorial and the wall is paved. There is a wrought-iron gate at the entrance to the enclosure which bears the legend LEST WE FORGET. To the right of the gate is a plaque inscribed REMEMBERED / WITH GRATITUDE / 50 YEARS ON / 1995.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 10 January 2017.

History

The war memorial at Hawkesbury Upton was erected in 1920, and unveiled on 8 August of that year. It commemorated the 32 men of the parish who had lost their lives in the course of World War One. It was set up in a prominent position on a triangular green at the centre of the village, alongside the High Street. Among those commemorated is Allen Algernon Bathurst, Lord Apsley, DSO, MC, TD, DL (3 August 1895 – 17 December 1942) who was a British Conservative Party politician. Following World War Two, the names of the seven men who had died in that conflict were added to the memorial, and a new, hexagonal enclosure was constructed around the memorial. In 1995, fifty years after the end of World War Two, a plaque was added to the perimeter wall.

Reasons for Listing

The war memorial at Hawkesbury Upton is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on this community;
* Architectural interest: for the quality of the design and craftsmanship of this sombre and dignified memorial, and its inscriptions;
* Group value: with the listed buildings which form its backdrop.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26675990

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)