Miserden War Memorial

South of Church of St Andrew, Miserden

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1091224
Date first listed:: 24-Mar-1987
List Entry Name:: Miserden War Memorial
Statutory Address:: South of Church of St Andrew, Miserden

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Date:: 1999-10-05
Reference:: IOE01/01497/08
Rights:: © Mr E. Currier. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1091224
Date first listed:: 24-Mar-1987
List Entry Name:: Miserden War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:: South of Church of St Andrew, Miserden

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: South of Church of St Andrew, Miserden

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Gloucestershire
District:: Stroud (District Authority)
Parish:: Miserden
National Grid Reference:: SO 93620 08881

Summary

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

Reasons for Designation

Miserden 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 War Cross, unusually with the inscriptions in bronze lettering;

* Group value: with St Andrew’s church (Grade II*) and the Old Rectory (Grade II).

History

It is likely that the commissioning of Lutyens to design the Miserden memorial was via Noel Wills, who owned the nearby Misarden (sic) Park, where Lutyens designed a new east wing and loggia after a serious fire in 1919. The memorial was probably unveiled in 1920.

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 opposite St Andrew’s church (listed Grade II*). It comprises a limestone War Cross set on a three-stage, rectangular, plinth, itself set on a small, square, base. Unusually for a Lutyens memorial of this type, the inscriptions are of bronze lettering set in inset panels in the stonework. On the second stage of the plinth is: TO THE MEMORY OF/ OUR GLORIOUS DEAD/ 1914-1919. The names of the fallen are listed on the third (lowest) stage. The top stage has the added inscription, again in bronze lettering: 1939-1945/ (names). On the back of the memorial ‘VF 1920’ is inscribed. Victor Hayward was the foreman and stonemason on the Wills estate.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 14/10/2015

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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 132729
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Skelton, T, Gliddon, G, Lutyens and the Great War, (2008), 81, 83, 173
Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 10 January 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/120311
War Memorials Register, accessed 10 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/2265

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.