Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

First World War memorial of around 1920, with Second World War inscriptions added.

Monument Types

• WAR MEMORIAL (FREESTANDING) (1920, Undated)

Full description

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Summary
First World War memorial of around 1920, with Second World War inscriptions added.

Reasons for Designation
Hartlip War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest:

* as a good example of a rough-hewn cross memorial for the period.

Group value:

* with the Grade I-listed Church of St Michael to the north-west and the other listed monuments within the churchyard, in addition to listed houses on the opposing east side of The Street.

History
The aftermath of the First World War that was the great age of memorial building, both as a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

Hartlip War Memorial was erected in around 1920 to commemorate the men from Hartlip who died in the First World War. The memorial stands on the north side of The Street in Hartlip, adjacent to the Church of St Michael. A photograph in the collection of the Medway Archives Centre shows the memorial soon after it was unveiled in the 1920s, largely in its present form. Following the Second World War, three additional memorial tablets were added, and the dates of the conflict were included on the face of the central granite cross. The designer of the memorial is not known.

Details
First World War memorial, erected around 1920, with later Second World War inscriptions added.

MATERIALS: granite cross, tablets and setts, with stone block wall to the rear. Applied lead lettering to the memorial tablets and the base of the cross.

PLAN: semi-circular memorial plot fronting to The Street, with curved back wall and a central cross.

DESCRIPTION: rough-hewn granite cross with tapering shaft mounted on a plinth and single-stepped base. There is a dedicatory inscription to the polished front section of the cross base, which reads: ‘ERECTED/ IN MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF THIS PARISH/ WHO GAVE THEIR/ LIVES IN THE GREAT WARS/ 1914-1919/ 1939-1945’. There are five sets of memorial tablets set into a surrounding curved wall of stone blocks, this set behind the cross. These tablets bear the names of the fallen, where they served, their rank, regiment and how old they were when they died. The area between the cross and the memorial wall is paved with granite setts.(1)

<1> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

Sources and further reading