Listed Building: Weekley War Memorial (1426142)

List Entry Description Summary of Building First World War memorial, c1920. Reasons for Designation Weekley’s war memorial, which stands to the south of St Mary’s church, 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 sacrifice it made in the First World War; * Design: an elegant limestone cross by the well-regarded Northamptonshire architect JA Gotch, who lived in Weekley and whose son is among those commemorated; * Group value: it stands alongside the Grade I-listed church of St Mary, and is faced by the Grade II*-listed Montagu Hospital of 1611. History The memorial was designed for the Weekley War Memorial Committee by the leading Northamptonshire architect John Alfred Gotch, who lived in the village for nearly 40 years. His son, Roby Myddleton Gotch, Captain and Adjutant of the Sherwood Foresters who was reported missing on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), is among the seven men commemorated on the memorial. Details The memorial stands on a green south of the Grade I-listed church of St Mary, and faced by the Grade II*-listed Montagu Hospital of 1611. It comprises a 3m high limestone cross with a Latin cross-head set on a tapering, square, shaft. That rises from a square plinth. Inscribed in raised lettering is (front face) TO KEEP IN MIND THE/ GREAT WAR & THOSE/ FROM THIS PLACE WHO/ GAVE THEIR LIVES/ 1914 - 1919/ (rear face) THEIR NAME/ LIVETH/ FOR EVERMORE. The names of the fallen appear on the other two faces. The plinth itself stands on a two-stepped octagonal base.

Record last edited

May 18 2015 4:59PM