Lower Swell 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 centre of the village of

Lower Swell Lower Swell is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Swell, in the Cotswold district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is located at the River Dikler, one mile from Stow-on-the-Wold. The village has "finest country ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in south-western 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. Many of Lutyens' commissions for war memorials originated from friends or pre-war clients in the area. In Lower Swell it appears the commission was made through Mark Fenwick, a regular client for whom Lutyens renovated his nearby house, Abbotswood in the early 1900s.

History and design

The memorial consists of a sculpture of a flaming, bulbous urn, which stands on a square pedestal and base of three shallow steps, all in limestone ashlar. It stands on a green in the centre of the village. The south-west side of the pedestal is inscribed: IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF NETHER SWELL WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WARS". The south-east and north-west sides bear the dates of the First and Second World Wars in Roman numerals: MCMXIV – MCMXIX and MCMXXXIX – MCMXLV respectively. On the north-east side are the names of the fallen. The inscriptions relating to the Second World War and the "s" in "Great Wars" were added at a later date, one of a variety of ways in which First World War memorials were adapted to take account of the casualties from the Second World War. The memorial was unveiled on 31 July 1921 by Colonel Brooke, DSO, of the Grenadier Guards. Lower Swell War Memorial was designated a grade II

on 25 August 1960. In March 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens' 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 Gloucestershire Grade II listed monuments and memorials Grade II listed buildings in Gloucestershire Works of Edwin Lutyens in England War memorials by Edwin Lutyens Buildings and structures completed in 1921 Outdoor sculptures in England Military history of Gloucestershire

Background

History and design

See also

References