Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II listed building. First World War memorial, 1923, by Sir Edwin Lutyens with later additions for the Second World War.

Monument Types

• SITE (Modern - 1923 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
SANDHURST TQ7928 THE GREEN 1350-0/9/257 War Memorial GV II War Memorial. c.1920. Comprises central chamfered stone cross on 3 stepped plinth with inscriptions of fallen parishioners on square stone step. Radiating out from this is an elongated cross shape measured out by stone paths are 3 simple rectangular stone slab seats on 2 piers and, on the longest side, a circular flower bed.
Listing NGR: TQ7984228398 (1).

National Heritage List entry amendment:

Summary of Building:

First World War memorial, 1923, by Sir Edwin Lutyens with later additions for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation:

Sandhurst War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principle reasons: * Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflicts of the C20; * Architect: by the nationally renowned architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944), who designed extant 58 memorials at home and abroad including the Cenotaph in Whitehall; * Design: a simple yet elegant cross, exceptionally with kerbing extending outwards to form a cross pattern, with benches and a flower bed at the ends of the cross arms; * Group value: with nearby listed buildings, notably the Grade II-listed Clocktower Monument.

History:

Sandhurst’s War Memorial Committee, chaired by Herbert Alexander, chose a site on Goddards Green in the heart of the village. It would seem the commission for Lutyens arose through his close personal friendship with James Wilson, a local resident. The memorial was dedicated in August 1923 by Viscount Goschen. The addition of ‘S’ to the final line of the dedication on the memorial (IN THE GREAT WARS) shows the many and various ways in which people sought to modify memorials to include the fallen of the Second World War.

Sir Edwin Lutyens OM RA (1869-1944) was the leading English architect of his generation. Before the First World War his reputation rested on his country houses and his work at New Delhi, but during and after the war he became the pre-eminent architect for war memorials in England, France and the British Empire. While the Cenotaph in Whitehall (London) had the most influence on other war memorials, the Thiepval Arch was the most influential on other forms of architecture. He designed the Stone of Remembrance which was placed in all Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries and in some cemeteries in England, including some with which he was not otherwise associated.

Details:

The memorial stands on the northern part of The Green alongside the main road through the village, with the Grade II-listed Clocktower Monument of 1889 rising behind it on the memorial’s main axis and contributing to perhaps the most elaborate setting of all of Lutyens’ memorial crosses. The memorial comprises a Portland stone War Cross, the shaft lozenge sectioned with a sword and wreath in relief. The shaft tapers into a three-stage rectangular plinth. That carries the inscription: (top section) TO THE BRAVE MEN/ OF/ SANDHURST/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES/ IN THE GREAT WARS; (middle section) 1939-1945 (NAMES); (bottom section) 1914-1919 (NAMES). There is a small, shallow, two-stage square base.

From the memorial pairs of parallel strips of Portland stone run outwards, forming a cross in the grass surround. Low, broad, stone benches form the termination of three of the arms, while a small circular flower bed, again edged with Portland stone, lies at the foot of the shaft of the cross arrangement.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 26/10/2015 (2).

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

Sources and further reading