Blackmoor War Memorial is a

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

memorial cloister in

Blackmoor Blackmore is a village in Essex, England. Blackmore or Blackmoor may also refer to: * Blackmore (name), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Blackmoor, Hampshire, a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England ...

, near

Liss Liss, Lyss or LISS may refer to *Liss (band), a Danish musical group *Liss (name), a given name and surname *Liss, Hampshire, a village in England **West Liss, the oldest part of Liss village **Liss Forest, a hamlet near Liss **Liss Athletic F.C. ...

, in Hampshire. The memorial stands on the north side of the main road, with the Church of St Matthew to the east and the village school to the west. It was designed by Sir

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

, and comprises a three-sided wood-framed arcade, open to the south, arranged around lawn with a memorial cross. Several memorial plaques and a fountain by Sir Charles Wheeler are mounted on the walls of the arcade. It is one of around 130

Grade II* listed war memorials in England There are 137 Grade II* listed war memorials in England, out of over 4,000 listed war memorials. In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a building or structure of special historical or architectural importance; listing offers the building ...

Background

The memorial was commissioned by the politician

William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and his wife

Maud Palmer, Countess of Selborne Beatrix Maud Palmer, Countess of Selborne (11 April 1858 – 27 April 1950) was a British people, British political and women's rights activist. Early life Born in Marylebone as Beatrix Maud Gascoyne-Cecil, she was the eldest child of futu ...

to commemorate their second son Captain Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer, who died of wounds in January 1916 aged 27, after the Battle of Umm-el-Hanna, while attached to the 1/4th Battalion of the

Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regi ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

during the First World War. Captain Palmer is also commemorated on the Basra Memorial. The memorial was unveiled in 1920. The cloister and cross were designed by Sir

. Buoyed by the success of this design, he was later commissioned to design the

Winchester College War Cloister The Winchester College War Cloister is a war memorial at Winchester College, in Hampshire, designed by the architect Sir Herbert Baker. The roofed quadrangle is said by Historic England to be the largest known private war memorial in Europe. ...

; both Robert Palmer and Baker's sons were educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

Description

The three sides of the memorial cloister stand behind and to either side of lawn, upon which stands a memorial cross. The structure is open on the fourth side, to the south, with steps leading up from the road that passes by. The wood-framed arcade stands on walls of

Bargate stone __NOTOC__ Bargate stone is a highly durable form of sandstone. It owes its yellow, butter or honey colouring to a high iron content. In some contexts it may be considered to be a form of ironstone. However, in the context of stone buildings loca ...

, and is roofed with

Horsham stone Horsham Stone is a type of calcareous, flaggy sandstone containing millions of minute sand grains and occurring naturally in the Weald Clay of south-east England.Roger Birch, Sussex Stone, The Story of Horsham Stone and Sussex Marble, 2006, It is ...

. The cloister is paved with stone flags, with a bench along the rear (north) wall to either side of the fountain in a central niche on the north wall incorporates a fountain with lion's mouth spout, intended to provide drinking water to refresh the children at the village school nearby, as a deliberate attempt to bring "animation and lively activity" into a memorial to the dead. Mounted on the walls of the cloister are six bronze memorial plaques by Sir Charles Wheeler, five on the north wall (including the fountain) and one for Robert Palmer on the east wall. To either side of the fountain are round-headed plaques, one dedicated to "War" and one to "Peace", decorated with symbolic trees, and a further plaque is addressed to the children of the village. Each includes inscriptions. Two plaques commemorate casualties of the First World War - one for Palmer, and another listing the names of 35 other war casualties from the villages nearby. Another plaque was added later, listing 8 Second World War casualties, and a further plaque with yet more names in 2009. The wheel-headed memorial cross is a typical Baker design, with an octagonal cross section, standing on an octagonal plinth and a three-stepped octagonal base. The head of the cross is inscribed "TRULY THERE IS A GOD THAT JUDGETH THE EARTH", a biblical quotation from the end of

Psalm 58 Psalm 58 is the 58th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?". In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and t ...

. Baker had proposed a similar design of memorial cross to the Imperial War Graves Commission (now

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

), but the Commission selected a different design by Sir

Reginald Blomfield Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period. Early life and career Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...

: the

Cross of Sacrifice The Cross of Sacrifice is a Commonwealth war memorial designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission). It is present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or ...

familiar at many CWGC cemeteries. The cross stands on a lawn in the centre of the cloister, surrounded by a paved path. Nearby are the

Grade II listed 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 ...

village school and school house, and the

Grade II* listed 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 ...

Church of St Matthew. A stone memorial tablet in the church lists 19 names of war dead from the First World War, and a separate wooden board records 8 from the Second World War. The church also houses a carved wooden memorial plaque to Captain Palmer.

Recent history

The memorial was restored and the fountain repaired in 2005, funded by the

War Memorials Trust War Memorials Trust works for the protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK. The charity provides free information and advice as well as administering grant schemes for the repair and conservation of war memorials. War Memorials T ...

. The Trust funded further work in 2009 to add a new plaque listing the names of casualties from the First and Second World Wars that had been omitted from the earlier plaques. The restored memorial was rededicated in June 2010. Blackmoor War Memorial was listed at Grade II in 1986. It was upgraded to Grade II* in May 2017, when it was one of 15 memorials by Baker to be listed or upgraded as part of a newly designated "national collection". Others to be included in the collection include the

(upgraded to Grade I); three newly listed at Grade II* (the County of Kent War Memorial Cross in Canterbury, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight War Memorial in Winchester, and the Hatfield War Memorial); three upgraded from Grade II to Grade II* (in addition to Blackmoor, the others were at

Overbury Overbury is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, midway between Evesham and Tewkesbury south of Bredon Hill. The manor of Overbury was purchased by the banking family of Martin in the 18th century from the Parsons family, memb ...

and

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

), and eight other memorials newly listed at Grade II (the war memorials at Ascot,

Chicheley Chicheley is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about north-east of Newport Pagnell. The village name is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and means ''Cicca' ...

Etchingham Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex in southern England. The village is located approximately southeast of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent and northwest of Hastings, on the A265, half a mile west o ...

Kemerton Kemerton is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire in England. It lies at the extreme south of the county in the local government district of Wychavon. Until boundary changes in 1931, it formed part of neighbouring Gloucestershire, and it ...

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

Potterne Potterne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. The village is south of Devizes and lies on the A360 which links Devizes to Salisbury. The civil parish includes the hamlet of Potterne Wick. History There is evide ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, and

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

.) Other listed war memorials by Baker include those at

Thorney Hill Thorney may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom *Thorney, Cambridgeshire *Thorney, Buckinghamshire *Thorney, Nottinghamshire *Thorney, Somerset *Thorney Hill, Hampshire *Thorney Island (Westminster) *Thorney Island (West Sussex) *Thorney Toll, C ...

Hertingfordbury Hertingfordbury is a small village in Hertfordshire, England, close to the county town of Hertford. It was mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''. Hertingfordbury is also the name of a neighbouring civil parish, which does not contain the village. ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

Wadhurst Wadhurst is a market town in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of the civil parish of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood and Tidebrook. Wadhurst is twinned with Aubers in France. Situation Wadhurst is situated on ...

Tewin Tewin is an English village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England between the towns of Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Welwyn (village) and the county town Hertford, it is within commuting distance of London. Tewin Wood is a very affluent re ...

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia **Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an international ...

, and Cobham.

References

Blackmoor War Memorial Cloister, Cross, and Fountain
National Heritage List for England, Historic England
Blackmoor Cloisters
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums

Roll of Honour
Blackmoor
War Memorials Online
Blackmoor
War Memorials Trust
War Memorial and Garden, Blackmoor, Bordon, England
Parks & Gardens UK
Blackmoor War Memorial and Garden
Hampshire Gardens Trust
The War Memorials of Herbert Baker
Historic England, 21 May 2017
National Collection of Sir Herbert Baker’s War Memorials Recognised
Historic England, 21 May 2017
Blackmoor WW1 tablet
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums
Capt R S A Palmer
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums
Blackmoor Soldiers WW1 tablet
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums
Blackmoor WW2 board
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums {{coord, 51.09630, -0.88738, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade II* listed monuments and memorials Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England Buildings and structures completed in 1920 Monuments and memorials in Hampshire Stone monuments and memorials

Background

Description

Recent history

See also

References