Harbledown and Rough War Memorial, including steps and gate

Church of St Michael and All Angels, Church Hill, Harbledown, Kent, CT2 8NW

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

Overview

First World War memorial cross, 1920, with later additions for the Second World War. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1463079
Date first listed:: 07-May-2019
List Entry Name:: Harbledown and Rough War Memorial, including steps and gate
Statutory Address:: Church of St Michael and All Angels, Church Hill, Harbledown, Kent, CT2 8NW

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1463079
Date first listed:: 07-May-2019
List Entry Name:: Harbledown and Rough War Memorial, including steps and gate
Statutory Address 1:: Church of St Michael and All Angels, Church Hill, Harbledown, Kent, CT2 8NW

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:: Church of St Michael and All Angels, Church Hill, Harbledown, Kent, CT2 8NW

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

County:: Kent
District:: Canterbury (District Authority)
Parish:: Harbledown and Rough Common
National Grid Reference:: TR1320458111

Summary

First World War memorial cross, 1920, with later additions for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Harbledown and Rough War Memorial, unveiled in 1920, 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 well-worked wheel-headed granite cross with original memorial inscriptions.

Group value:

* with the Church of St Michael and the Old Rectory (both Grade II-listed).

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead: therefore the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss. One such memorial was raised at Harbledown as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 27 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

Harbledown and Rough War Memorial was unveiled on the 16 May 1920 at a service led by the Archdeacon of Canterbury. The land on which the memorial stands was formerly part of the Rectory grounds and was purchased in 1919 by the Memorial Committee from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and given into the care of the Parish Council. The design for the memorial and its surrounding area was the work of Mr AS Poile, chairman of the Parish Council, while the building of the memorial was undertaken by Mr AK Sutton of Canterbury. The gate to the memorial was built by Mr Fagg while the ornamental ironwork was carried out by Mr Lawrence.

Following the Second World War, the names of 10 fallen from that conflict were added to the memorial. In 2016 the memorial received grant funding from War Memorials Trust for cleaning and re-painting of the lettering.

Details

Harbledown and Rough War Memorial, erected 1920 in the churchyard to the south-east of the Church of St Michael (Grade II).

DESCRIPTION: granite memorial consisting of a rough-hewn wheel-headed cross rising from a plinth on a two-stepped base. The south face of the plinth is recessed and bears the inscription ‘TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN UNFADING MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF HARBLEDOWN/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR./ 1914 – 1918/ (27 NAMES)’ in black enamelled lettering. The base of the plinth below reads ‘THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY/ THEIR FELLOW PARISHIONERS’. The east face of the plinth is also recessed and carries the inscription 1939 – 1945 followed by the names of the fallen from the Second World War.

The memorial stands on a tarred and shingled area in the south-west corner of the churchyard. The memorial has a prominent position overlooking Church Hill and is accessed from the road by a set of brick steps leading up from a timber and ironwork gate bearing the inscription ‘GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN’.

Sources

Websites
IWM: Harbledown, accessed 13 February 2019 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/16391
Kent Fallen: Harbledown, accessed 13 February 2019 from http://www.kentfallen.com/PDF%20REPORTS/HARBLEDOWN.pdf
War Memorials Online: Harbledown, accessed 13 February 2019 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/142566
War Memorials Trust: Harbledown and Rough, accessed 13 February 2019 from http://www.warmemorials.org/search-grants/?gID=1317
Other
'Harbledown War Memorial', Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 22 May 1920, p4

Legal

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