The Queen Victoria Monument stands in the centre of

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 ...

, Wirral,

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. It is in the form of an

Eleanor cross The Eleanor crosses were a series of twelve tall and lavishly decorated stone monuments topped with crosses erected in a line down part of the east of England. King Edward I had them built between 1291 and about 1295 in memory of his beloved wi ...

. The memorial was designed by

Edmund Kirby Edmund Kirby (8 April 1838 – 24 April 1920) was an English architect. He was born in Liverpool, and educated at Oscott College in Birmingham. He was articled to E. W. Pugin in London, then became an assistant to John Douglas in Chest ...

, and was unveiled in 1905. It 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

Following the death of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

in 1901, a Victoria Memorial Committee was established in Birkenhead to make arrangements for a memorial to the queen. An open space was created in the centre of Hamilton Square in 1903 by Birkenhead Town Council. The committee then discussed the form of the memorial to stand in its centre. It had been hoped to have a monument in bronze, but the amount of money raised was inadequate to provide this, and it was decided that the monument should be in the form of an Eleanor cross. Eleanor crosses were erected by King Edward I in the late 13th century to commemorate the life of his wife,

Eleanor of Castile Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 28 November 1290) was Queen of England as the first wife of Edward I, whom she married as part of a political deal to affirm English sovereignty over Gascony. The marriage was known to be particularly close, and ...

, and were erected on the sites where her coffin rested. The typical design of an Eleanor cross was that of a polygonal base on steps, surmounted by stages of reducing size. The lowest stage was solid, and the upper stages were open. The committee considered that this would be appropriate as a it would follow the design of a memorial to an admired queen. One of the members of the committee was the architect Edmund Kirby, who agreed to design the memorial free of charge. The identity of the sculptor is not recorded. Kirby had previously worked with Richard Boulton and Sons of

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, and it is possible that this was the responsible company. The monument was unveiled, before it was finished, by Charles Gatehouse, a local politician and a member of the committee, on 26 October 1905. It cost £1,400.

Description

The monument is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

from

Darley Dale Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, on the River Derwent and the A6 road. The town forms part o ...

. The steps on which it stands, and the columns in the second and third stages are in

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

from

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

. The monument stands about high. It is in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. Each stage of the monument is octagonal. It stands on five steps, and consists of four stages, each stage being narrower than the stage below. The lowest stage is solid, and each side has a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

. In the front is an inscription reading as follows. Each of the other sides contains a coat of arms in relief, and its associated motto. In clockwise order from the front these are the arms and mottoes of Birkenhead,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, and the Royal arms. The middle two stages of the monument are open, with arcades and granite columns, and the top stage consists of a

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

ed spire surmounted by a crown

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

Appraisal

The memorial was designated a Grade II listed building on 28 March 1974. Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest".

Notes and references

Notes Citations Sources * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birkenhead, Queen Victoria Monument Queen Victoria Monument Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside Buildings and structures completed in 1905 Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside Monuments and memorials to Queen Victoria Monuments and memorials in Merseyside Grade II listed monuments and memorials 1905 establishments in England

History

Description

Appraisal

See also

Notes and references