Hartburn War Memorial is a

First World War Memorial World War I is remembered and commemorated by various war memorials, including civic memorials, larger national monuments, war cemeteries, private memorials and a range of utilitarian designs such as halls and parks, dedicated to remembering th ...

in the village of Hartburn,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, in the north-east of England. The memorial, designed by

Sir 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 memoria ...

, was unveiled in 1921 and is today a 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 ...

Background

In the aftermath of the

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 ...

and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain. Amongst the most prominent designers of memorials was the architect

, described by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

as "the leading English architect of his generation". Lutyens designed

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 of Nations, Commonwealth dead of the First World W ...

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 ...

in London, which became the focus for the national

Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in Nov ...

commemorations, as well as the

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...

—the largest British war memorial anywhere in the world—and the

Stone of Remembrance The Stone of Remembrance is a standardised design for war memorials that was designed in 1917 by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC). It was designed to commemorate the dead of World War I, to b ...

which appears in all large

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 ...

cemeteries and in several of Lutyens's civic war memorials. Hartburn's memorial is one of fifteen War Crosses by Lutyens, all sharing a broadly similar design. Many of Lutyens' commissions for war memorials originated with pre-war clients and friends. The commission for Hartburn came from Mr and Mrs Straker of nearby Angerton Hall, the gardens of which Lutyens renovated with

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

in 1904.

History and design

The war memorial was built by HJ Robinson of Clay House in nearby Meldon. It was unveiled by Colonel EPA Riddel, CMG, DSO, commander of the

149th (Northumberland) Brigade The Northumberland Brigade was formed in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force of the British Army with four battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The brigade was numbered as 149th (Northumberland) Brigade in 1915 and served with the 50th ...

. The memorial stands on a small triangular green in the middle of the village. It is one of Lutyens' fifteen War Crosses, the majority of which stand in small villages across England. Typical of Lutyens' War Crosses, it has a long, tapering shaft with short arms moulded near the top, though it has uncommonly deep

bevel A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage they are often interchanged, while in technical usage they ...

led edges and sits on a deep two-tiered stone base, which itself sits on a small stone circle in the grass. The main inscription is on the north face: "PASS FRIEND ALL IS WELL / 1914 HARTBURN 1919"; the inscription "1939 HARTBURN 1945" was added to the south face after the Second World War. Hartburn War Memorial was designated a grade II listed building on 30 January 1986. In November 2015, as part of the commemorations of the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens's war memorials were recognised as a "national collection" and all of his free-standing memorials in England were listed or had their listing status reviewed and their

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 ...

list entries were updated and expanded.

References

* {{Reflist World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England Monuments and memorials in Northumberland Grade II listed buildings in Northumberland Grade II listed monuments and memorials Buildings and structures completed in 1921 Works of Edwin Lutyens in England War memorials by Edwin Lutyens Military history of Northumberland

Background

History and design

See also

References