Birkenhead War Memorial, or Birkenhead Cenotaph, stands in

Hamilton Square Hamilton Square is a town square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. This Georgian square, which was designed by Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, has the most Grade I listed buildings outside London (after Trafalgar Square). It is named ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, England, opposite the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It consists of a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

with carved figures and panels in Westmorland stone. The memorial was designed by Lionel Budden, and the sculptor was H. Tyson Smith. It was unveiled in 1925 by

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Richard H. K. Butler. The memorial is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

In 1922 Birkenhead's War Memorial Executive Committee organised a competition to design a war memorial for the town. There were 21 designs submitted and they were exhibited in the Birkenhead Art Gallery and Museum in February 1923. Of these, 20 were in the Classical style used by

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

for

The Cenotaph The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Whitehall in London, England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was unveiled in 1920 as the United Kingdom's national memorial to the British and Commonwealth dead of the First World War, was rededicated in 19 ...

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

, London. The designs were reviewed by Charles Reilly, the Professor at the

Liverpool School of Architecture The School of Architecture is an architecture school in Liverpool, England, and part of the University of Liverpool. It was the first architecture school in the United Kingdom to be affiliated with a university, and the first to have degree pro ...

. Among the designs of which he approved was that of Lionel Budden, one of his former students, who was then a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture. The assessor for the competition was Major Gilbert Fraser, President of the Liverpool Architectural Society. He selected Budden's design, and this was approved by the committee. Budden appointed H. Tyson Smith as sculptor for the figures on the memorial, which was made by Joseph Davies of Birkenhead and H. A. Clegg and Sons of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. Initially it had been planned for the memorial to stand on the north side of Hamilton Square, which was vacant. However there was strong opinion that it should be on the east side of the square, opposite the Town Hall. This site was occupied by the Statue of John Laird, but it was agreed that the Laird statue should be moved to the west side of the square, and be replaced by the war memorial. The memorial was unveiled on 1 July 1925 by Sir Richard H. K. Butler, and the ceremony was attended by about 20,000 people. Following the Second World War, the names of those who fell in that conflict were added to the memorial. In 1987, the monument was removed for 2 months for repair work. In 2013 the monument was cleaned and restored.

Description

The memorial is in Portland stone with the figures and the names of those lost in Westmorland stone. The memorial stands about high. It has a rectangular plan, the longer sides facing east and west. The monument is set on three steps on a paved plateau, and is flanked by flagstaffs. On the longer sides are panels containing the names of those who fell in the First World War, and on the shorter sides, in smaller panels, are those who died in the Second World War. On the shorter sides, above the panels, are carvings of female figures, one holding a wreath, the other a medallion. Above the figures and panels on all sides is a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

festoon A festoon (from French ''feston'', Italian ''festone'', from a Late Latin ''festo'', originally a festal garland, Latin ''festum'', feast) is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depicti ...

s of laurel. Below the panels on the long sides are circular plaques carved with crests of the forces involved in the wars. Above the figures on the short sides are the arms of Birkenhead. The top of the memorial is in the form of a

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

. The total estimated cost of the memorial was £3,932. On the east side, facing the Town Hall is an inscription reading as follows. On the opposite long side is the following inscription. In the medallion held by one of the figures is written: Above the front seat ledge is inscribed: The dates "1914–1919" are inscribed below the figures on the short sides, and above them is inscribed "1939 1945 WAR". The names of the sculptor and architect are also on the memorial.

Appraisal

The memorial is recorded in the

as a designated Grade II*

, having been designated on 28 March 1974. Grade II is the middle of the three grades of listing and is applied to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest."

Notes and references

Notes Citations Sources * * * * *

External links

Site containing all the names on the memorialFilm of Princess Mary placing a wreath on the memorial in 1925
{{coord, 53.39342, -3.01526, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Birkenhead Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England Buildings and structures completed in 1925 1925 establishments in England Grade II listed monuments and memorials

History

Description

Appraisal

See also

Notes and references

External links