1
The First World War
The Keep
Woollards Way
Brighton
BN9 9BP
Phone: 01273 336378
Email: [email protected]
Website: eastsussexww1.org.uk
Recording
Remembrance:
Sussex War Memorials
Project Pack
2
Contents
Recording Remembrance: Sussex War Memorials Project
3
Why are War Memorials Important?
4
What is a Memorial and why are we recording them?
5
War Memorial Types
6
An example of a War Memorial record of the HER
8
Contact the Historic Environment Record for your area
9
3
Recording Remembrance:
Sussex War Memorials Project
East Sussex and West Sussex County Councils are undertaking an exciting project
recording War Memorials within Sussex, including Brighton and Hove. The aim of the project
is to ensure that there is a lasting record of all War Memorials within the two Counties
detailing their inscriptions, locations and condition. The project is set to run during the
commemoration of the centenary of World War One. From August 2014, the Archaeology
teams in both counties, in conjunction with both County Record Offices, would like to collate
the location, extent and condition of all war memorials.
We are asking local community volunteers to collate the information and, once collected, the
volunteers will be able to upload this and photos taken on to a specially created website.
This information will then be fed into the respective Historic Environment Records to ensure
that the war memorials are recorded for future generations.
We have a basic list of known memorials from the Imperial War Museum, however it is not
comprehensive and there will be others within your area that are unknown. Photographs
which are taken as part of the project will also allow the archaeology teams to pass on
necessary information to the War Memorials Trust about any memorials that may need a
condition survey.
We have created a Guidance document for the project which we hope will help and guide
contributors through the process of adding the information that is collected on both the
memorials and those who are commemorated on them.
It is hoped by the end of the project (November 2018), we will have a comprehensive list of
all war memorials for the respective County Councils to house on the East and West Sussex
Historic Environment Records.
4
Why are War Memorials important?
The armistice of November 1918 brought to an end the First World War, the so called ‘war to
end all wars’. The war had continued on for four years. Many nations, including Great Britain,
saw loss of life on a massive scale.
From 1916, that loss of life was so immense and so unrelenting that the bodies of dead
soldiers were rarely brought home to their grieving relatives, and were, if indeed there was a
body, buried in a military grave in France or any of the other countries where fighting took
place. These graves are still tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission today.
However, across all sides of the First World War, there were over five million soldiers who
had died without any known grave. All that was left as a physical memorial were their
names, which took on a symbolic significance in attempts to remember and commemorate.
In response to the victory attained in 1918, cities across Great Britain erected memorials to
commemorate the missing and the dead. These included the large war memorials such as
the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Central London, the memorial at Hyde Park and countless others.
Smaller memorials were erected in towns and villages across the country listing the names
of each local soldier who had been killed in action or who was missing.
War memorials took many different forms. They ranged from grand and elaborate
sculptures, and were often designed by leading architects such as the memorial in Steine
Gardens, Brighton, which takes the form of a Roman water garden, to simple stone crosses
on a plinth. This type of memorial can be seen today on village greens across East and West
Sussex. Others types of memorial included simple rolls of honour found in village halls and
churches, such as Ashburnham Church in East Sussex, and stained glass windows. Many
schools also established rolls of honour in school halls to commemorate former pupils who
had fallen.
These memorials were commissioned and paid for in a variety of ways, and the years
immediately following the armistice saw many different fundraising schemes in action,
designed to support a local memorial. Commissioning committees were established to plan
the fundraising campaign including village events and knocking on doors. Many of those
involved in this were women.
Local war memorials provided a tangible focus for the grief that was experienced after the
First World War. The memorialisation process was a fundamental combination of the
emotional needs of the community and the political necessity of the evocation and promotion
of a specific memory of the war that directed the conversion of grief into pride. Community
involvement in the construction of memorials and the ownership of memory was essential in
the success of memorials as beacons of commemoration.
Today, there are over 100,000 war memorials across the United Kingdom.
References
Brittain, Vera, Testament of Youth (Victor Gollancz, 1933)
Holmes, Richard, Tommy, The British Soldier in World War 1, 1914-18 (HarperCollins, 2004)
Sheffield, Gary, Forgotten Victory: The First World War: Myths and Realities (Headline, 2001)
Winter, Jay, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning (Cambridge, 1995)
Websites: www.warmemorials.org.uk www.ukniwm.org.uk www.roll-of-honour.com
5
What is a Memorial and why are we recording them?
A memorial is an object designed to preserve the memory of a person or an event. In the
context of the ‘Recording Remembrance’ project our aim is to record all forms of war
memorial within Sussex. We will be using local parish councils and community groups to
disseminate information and mobilise volunteers. Once the information has been collected, a
website will be provided for members of the public to record information on and this will be
fed into the relevant Historic Environment Record (HER).
The aim of the project is to record all aspects of a memorial including information about
location, condition, form and inscription. We would like digital images (photographs,
drawings) of the memorials that we can then link to the HER record. There may be an
element of research needed to establish whether the memorials are still where they were
originally located, but also to find, where possible, the date that they were erected. There
may also be additional information on buildings built as memorials such as Memorial
Halls and Memorial Cottages. This information may be held within Parish records within the
County Records Office.
Although this project has been designed to coincide with the centenary of the First World
War, and therefore to record those memorials erected to those lost, it is not limited to it. We
would like to record all war memorials including, (but not limited to) those listed below:
Below are the approximate date ranges for the main wars commemorated by war memorials;
these are not exhaustive:
Napoleonic Wars: 1803-1815
Crimean War: 1853-1856
Boer War: 1880-1881
2nd Boer War: 1899-1902
First World War: 1914-1918 or 1919
Second World War: 1939-1945 (South East Asia 1945-1946)
Korean War: 1950-1953
Northern Ireland Conflict: late 1960’s-1998
Iraq War: 2003-2009
6
War Memorial Types
War memorials come in many varieties, and can range from a simple plaque to an individual,
a monument erected by the Parish for all those who died in battle, to a memorial hall. Also,
there are memorials dedicated to those who returned from the war, some parishes have
erected memorial to civilians and also to celebrate that no-one from the parish was lost in
warfare.
The most common war memorials are tablets and plaques, quite often within churches or
buildings, and especially constructed structures and crosses that have been erected by
Parishes.
In the tables below and on page 7 are a list of the most common types of memorial (these
lists are not exhaustive):
Types of Memorial within a Religious Building or Cemetery
Allegory
Altar
Banner
Battlefield Cross
Bell
Book of Remembrance
Calvary
Carving
Chantry Chapel
Chapel
Choir Stalls
Church Gallery
Communion/Altar Rail
Cross
Crucifix
Decorated Panel
Effigy (Human Figure)
Font
Frieze
Kneeler
Lectern
Lighting/Lamp
Lych Gate
Obelisk
Organ
Panelling
Plaque/Tablet
Prayer Desk
Pulpit
Reredos
Roll of Honour
Rood Loft
Stained Glass Window
Stone of Remembrance
Triptych
7
Additional Types of Memorial
Commemorative Stone
Cenotaph
Community Garden
Convalescent Home
Garden
Hospital
Insignia
Meeting Hall
Memorial Cottage
Memorial Hall
Park
Statue
Tree
Victory Hall
Village Hall
The most common place to find memorials is within the parish church and/or cemetery, but
they can be found throughout the parishes. For example memorials can be found in post
offices, police stations, private houses or buildings, schools and military barracks. There are
also memorials that mark particular occasions or events which would be erected at those
particular locations. One such example is a memorial to Lieutenant Walter Prior, who was
associated with bomb disposal, which is erected by the coast in Aldwick, West Sussex.
Although the majority of memorials are likely to be publically accessible, permissions may
need to be sort such as asking for a church to be opened if it is not routinely left unlocked.
Please bear in mind that some memorials may also be on private land or in private
buildings and therefore permission for access should be sort to record them.
8
An Example of a War Memorial record on the HER
9
Contact the Historic Environment Record for your area
For War Memorials within East Sussex County, including Bright and Hove
East Sussex County Council HER
The Keep
Wollards Way
Bighton
BN9 9BP
Phone: 01273 336378
Email: [email protected]
For War Memorials within West Sussex County
West Sussex County Council HER
Environment and Heritage Team
West Sussex County Council
Tower Street
Chichester
PO19 1RH
Phone: 0330 2226453
Email: [email protected]