Summary

First World War memorial, before 1922.

Description

Coldmeece War Memorial stands at the roadside, at the junction of Meece Road and Swynnerton Road. It comprises a stone wheel-head cross in the Celtic style with intricate interlace patterns decorating the cross shaft. The shaft rises from a plinth that stands on a two-stepped, square, base. The inscription on the front face of the plinth reads TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN GLORIOUS AND GRATEFUL/ MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO FOR KING/ AND COUNTRY GAVE THEIR LIVES IN/ THE GREAT WAR/ THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY/ THE PARENTS OF ONE WHO FELL IN ACTION/ AT THE BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE IN/ FRANCE ON THE 11TH MARCH 1915.

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, 23 November 2017.

History

Captain Charles Edmund Wood, Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle on 11 March 1915. The younger son of Mr and Mrs EJW Wood of Meece House, Captain Wood became an officer in the territorials in 1909. Having deployed to France shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, he was mentioned in dispatches before taking part in the Spring offensive that started on 10 March 1915. He was buried at Fauguissant near Laventie. The memorial cross was erected by Captain Wood’s parents, presumably before the death of Mr EJW Wood in 1922.

The Parish Council planted a rose garden at the memorial to commemorate the Swynnerton Roses, female munitions workers who worked at the adjacent Royal Ordnance Filling Factory No5, Swynnerton, during the Second World War.

Reasons for Listing

Coldmeece War Memorial, which stands at the roadside opposite Meece Lane, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on a family and the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the First World War;
* Architectural interest: an elegant and well-carved Celtic cross.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26677859

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

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)