Arch of Remembrance
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The Arch of Remembrance is a First World War 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 ...
and located in
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
,
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
, in the East Midlands of England. Leicester's industry contributed significantly to the British war effort. A temporary war memorial was erected in 1917, and a committee was formed in 1919 to propose a permanent memorial. The committee resolved to appoint Lutyens as architect and to site the memorial in Victoria Park. Lutyens's first proposal was accepted by the committee but was scaled back and eventually cancelled due to a shortage of funds. The committee then asked Lutyens to design a memorial arch, which he presented to a public meeting in 1923. The memorial is a single
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 ...
arch with four legs (a
tetrapylon A tetrapylon ( el, τετράπυλον, "four gates"), plural ''tetrapyla'', known in Latin as a ''quadrifrons'' (literally "four fronts") is a type of ancient Roman monument of cubic shape, with a gate on each of the four sides, generally built ...
or quadrifrons), tall. The legs form four arched openings, two large on the main axis, tall, oriented north-west to south-east, and two small on the sides, tall. At the top of the structure is a large dome, set back from the edge. The main arches are aligned so the sun shines through them at sunrise on 11 November (
Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I a ...
). The inside of the arch has a decorative
coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...
ed ceiling and the legs support painted stone flags which represent each of the British armed forces and the Merchant Navy. The arch is surrounded by decorative iron railings, and complemented by the later addition of a set of gates at the University Road entrance to the park and a pair of gates and lodges at the London Road entrance—the war memorial is at the intersection of the paths leading from the two entrances. With a large budget devoted entirely to the structure, the result is one of Lutyens's largest and most imposing war memorials. It dominates Victoria Park and the surrounding area, and can be seen from the main southward routes out of the city (though building work in the intervening years has reduced the area from which it is visible). The memorial was unveiled on 4 July 1925 by two local widows in front of a large crowd, including Lutyens. It cost £27,000, though the committee was left with a funding shortfall of £5,500 which several members of the committee made up from their own pockets; the committee was sharply criticised in the local press for their handling of the campaign. The arch is a Grade I
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 ...
and since 2015, has been part of a national collection of Lutyens's war memorials.


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
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 ...
, 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 established his reputation designing
country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
s for wealthy clients, but the war had a profound effect on him; following it, he devoted much of his time to memorialising its casualties. He became renowned for his commemorative works through his design 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 ...
in London, which became Britain's national war memorial. This, along with his work for the
Imperial 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 ...
(IWGC), led to commissions for war memorials across Britain and the Empire.
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
is a area of open land to the south-east of
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
city centre. Formerly a racetrack, it was laid out as a public park in the late 19th century. At the beginning of the First World War, five part-time
Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...
units were based in Leicester, along with elements of the regular
Leicestershire Regiment The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both W ...
. The special reserve battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment was sent to man coastal defences near Hull, while all five territorial units were sent to the front. Among them was the city's former
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP),
Eliot Crawshay-Williams Eliot Crawshay-Williams (4 September 1879 – 11 May 1962), was a British author, army officer, and Liberal Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Early ...
, who served in the Middle East with the 1st Leicestershire
Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...
. Recruitment to the army was lower in Leicester than in other English industrial towns, partly because of low unemployment in the area—the town's major industries were textile and footwear manufacturing, both of which were necessary for the war effort. Later in the war, many of the town's factories were given over to munitions production; Leicester produced the first batch of
howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...
shells by a British company which was not making ammunition before the war. The local authorities held recruiting rallies as the war progressed, aided by
William Buckingham William Buckingham VC (February 1886 – 15 September 1916) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth force ...
, a local soldier who won the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
at the
Battle of Neuve Chapelle The Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10–13 March 1915) took place in the First World War in the Artois region of France. The attack was intended to cause a rupture in the German lines, which would then be exploited with a rush to the Aubers Ridge and ...
in 1915. Leicester was granted
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...
by King
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...
in 1919, in recognition of its industries' contribution to the British war effort. The king and Queen Mary visited Leicester that summer, during which they called at several businesses in the city. In
De Montfort Hall De Montfort Hall is the largest music and performance venue in Leicester, England. It is situated adjacent to Victoria Park and is named after the "Father of Parliament", Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. History The hall was built by the ...
, the king presented gallantry medals to several servicemen who had yet to receive them, and the lord mayor was knighted, after which the king was honoured with a march past by local soldiers, and demobilised veterans in the adjacent Victoria Park. As well as members of the public, the parade was viewed by thousands of disabled veterans,
Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...
nurses, and war widows and orphans. Such was the size of the force on parade, it took 45 minutes to proceed past the royal pavilion.


Commissioning

A temporary war memorial was placed outside
Leicester Town Hall Leicester Town Hall stands in the city centre of Leicester, England, in a square which contains a fountain. The building, which contains a Bike Park, is the main office of the City of Leicester. It is a Grade II* listed building. History Befo ...
in 1917. A public meeting was held in Leicester on 14 May 1919 (the fighting having ceased with the
armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
), leading to the creation of a War Memorial Committee of 23 members to propose a suitable permanent memorial. The committee was chaired by
Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland Henry John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland, (16 April 1852 – 8 May 1925), known as Henry Manners until 1888 and styled Marquess of Granby between 1888 and 1906, was a British peer and Conservative politician. Background Rutland was the ...
, with Sir Jonathan North (the
lord mayor of Leicester The position of Lord Mayor of Leicester is a mainly ceremonial post, being the title of the chairman of the Leicester City Council. The Mayor is elected annually by the members of the council. The role of Lord Mayor is in many ways similar to ...
) as vice-chair. Two sub-committees were established, one to look after finance and the other to supervise the design. The Duke of Rutland suggested siting the permanent memorial outside the town hall but this was rejected unanimously by the city council and the committee examined potential sites at
Leicester Castle Leicester Castle is in the city of the same name in the English county of Leicestershire. The complex is situated in the west of Leicester City Centre, between Saint Nicholas Circle to the north and De Montfort University to the south. A large ...
and Victoria Park.Skelton, p. 67. A suggestion from a member of the public was examined by the design sub-committee, but in October 1919 the full committee resolved to appoint Lutyens as architect and to build the memorial in Victoria Park, which had been in the ownership of the city council since the 1860s and was laid out as a public park in 1883. Lutyens visited on 20 October 1919 and was accompanied by the duke and other committee members on an inspection of the chosen site. The original plan involved crossing avenues of
lime tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...
s to create a
tree cathedral A tree cathedral is an arboretum laid out so the arrangement of the trees creates the typical architectural elements of the nave, chancel, and transepts usually constructed from masonry in a typical medieval cathedral. Examples of tree cathedra ...
, with 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 ...
(identical to the one in London) at the western end, and a
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 ...
at the crossing, within a circular walled enclosure, which would be inscribed with the names of the dead. The paths along the plan of the cathedral would be paved to accentuate the purpose of the structure. This proposal was accepted, and a model was made and displayed in the city museum. By March 1922, the project had been scaled back due to a shortage of funds and lack of public enthusiasm for the project—the costs were estimated at £23,000, of which only around £4,300 had been raised. At a public meeting on 29 March, the committee agreed to abandon the scheme and that "a memorial worthy of the city be erected on the ground near the main entrance gates". Two days later, the committee asked Lutyens to design a memorial arch. Lutyens advised that such an arch would cost in the region of £25,000; he suggested they consider alternatives, such as an obelisk (which he estimated would be around half the cost) but the committee decided to proceed with the arch despite the cost. They presented the new design to another public meeting in May 1923. Lutyens told the meeting that the arch represented the city's triumphal spirit, and he announced the name "Arch of Remembrance". The name was chosen to avoid the impression that the memorial would be a
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...
, something the committee felt was incompatible with the mood of mourning for the dead.Skelton, p. 69. The new proposal was approved, and construction started on the revised memorial in 1923, and work was completed by 1925. The structure was begun by Nine Elms Stone and Masonry Works, and completed by Holloway Brothers (who built several other memorials for Lutyens, including
Southampton Cenotaph Southampton Cenotaph is a First World War memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and located in Watts Park in the southern English city of Southampton. The memorial was the first of dozens by Lutyens to be built in permanent form and it influ ...
). Due to a continuing shortfall of funding, the War Memorial Committee took out a bank loan to pay for the works to be completed. Five committee members served as guarantors.


Design

The memorial, in
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 ...
, is a square-plan arch with four legs (
piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
; a
tetrapylon A tetrapylon ( el, τετράπυλον, "four gates"), plural ''tetrapyla'', known in Latin as a ''quadrifrons'' (literally "four fronts") is a type of ancient Roman monument of cubic shape, with a gate on each of the four sides, generally built ...
or quadrifrons) which dominates the surrounding level ground. It is tall, with large arched openings on the main axis (north-west to south-east), and smaller, lower arches on the north-east and south-west sides. The widths, heights and depths of the arches are in simple 2:4:1 proportions: the larger arches are wide, tall and deep; and the smaller arches are wide, tall and deep. Stone wreaths are carved in
relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
on the legs at the front (north-west side, facing University Road) and rear of the largest arch; inside these are carved the dates of the First World War: MCM XIV (1914) on the left side, and MCM XIX (1919) on the right. The structure is topped with a dome (attic), stepped back and concave at the front and rear. The city's coat of arms is carved in relief on the rear, surrounded by large swags.Pevsner, p. 261. The larger arches on the main axis form a
coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...
ed,
barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ceiling, crossed by the lower arches to either side. The main axis is aligned so the sun would have been at its centre at sunrise on
Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I a ...
, 11 November (trees and buildings to the south have lowered the apparent horizon since the memorial was built, meaning the sun appears to be slightly off-centre). Four painted stone flags are set inside the archway, raised on
corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s on the inside of the legs: the
Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
(representing the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
) and the flag of the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
(the
White Ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...
) at the front, and the flags of the Merchant Navy (the Red Ensign), and
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(the
Royal Air Force Ensign The Royal Air Force Ensign is the official flag which is used to represent the Royal Air Force. The ensign has a field of air force blue with the United Kingdom's flag in the canton and the Royal Air Force's roundel in the middle of the fly. ...
) at the rear. Painted stone flags are a recurring feature in Lutyens's war memorial designs; he first proposed them for the Cenotaph, where they were rejected in favour of fabric, though they feature on several of his other designs besides Leicester (other examples include
Northampton War Memorial Northampton War Memorial, officially the Town and County War Memorial, is a First World War memorial on Wood Hill in the centre of Northampton, the county town of Northamptonshire, in central England. Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, i ...
and Rochdale Cenotaph). Above the front arch (facing University Road) is the inscription GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND ON EARTH PEACE and on the opposite side (facing the park), ALL THEY HOPED FOR, ALL THEY HAD, THEY GAVE TO SAVE MANKIND – THEMSELVES THEY SCORNED TO SAVE from the hymn "
O Valiant Hearts "O Valiant Hearts" is a hymn remembering the fallen of the First World War. It often features prominently in annual Remembrance Day services in the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth. Words were taken from a poem by Sir John Stanhope ...
". Inscriptions lower down, facing into the park, were added later to display the dates of the Second World War: MCM XXXIX (1939) and MCM XLV (1945). The side arches also have inscriptions. The north-east arch (left, when viewed from the direction of University Road) reads REMEMBER IN GRATITUDE TWELVE THOUSAND MEN OF THIS CITY AND COUNTY WHO FOUGHT AND DIED FOR FREEDOM. REMEMBER ALL WHO SERVED AND STROVE AND THOSE WHO PATIENTLY ENDURED; the right (south-west) arch contains an excerpt from
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
's poem "
And did those feet in ancient time "And did those feet in ancient time" is a poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic '' Milton: A Poem in Two Books'', one of a collection of writings known as the Prophetic Books. The date of 1804 on the title page is probably when the ...
": I WILL NOT CEASE FROM MENTAL FIGHT NOR SHALL MY SWORD SLEEP IN MY HAND TILL WE HAVE BUILT JERUSALEM IN ENGLAND'S GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND. The memorial is encircled by iron railings, which are pierced by four pairs of stone piers supporting gates opposite each arch (the arch was not intended to be passed through and the gates are kept closed). The piers are decorated with
meanders A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
(Greek key patterns) and swags and topped by stone urns, similar to the one on Lutyens's
Royal Berkshire Regiment War Memorial The Royal Berkshire Regiment War Memorial or Royal Berkshire Regiment Cenotaph is a World War I memorials, First World War memorial dedicated to members of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and located in Brock Barracks in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, ...
in
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
. Arches are a relatively uncommon form of memorial, particularly for the First World War. Leicester's is one of three by Lutyens and the only one in Britain, the other two being the
Thiepval Memorial 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 ...
on the Somme in France (unveiled in 1932) and the
India Gate The India Gate (formerly known as the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Rajpath on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi, formerly called duty path. It stands as a memorial to 84,000 soldiers of the Br ...
(originally named the All India War Memorial, unveiled in 1931) in
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
. The India Gate in particular bears a close resemblance to the Arch of Remembrance, though it is nearly twice its height; Thiepval is a much more complex structure, using multiple interlocking arches to form one, much larger, arch. Lutyens proposed an arch with a dome similar to Leicester's for an IWGC memorial at Saint-Quentin in France in 1924, though this was later abandoned in favour of the Thiepval Memorial. The three arches that were built and the abandoned proposal all share a strong visual resemblance.


Setting

The arch is situated on the highest point of Victoria Park, dominating its surroundings. It is visible for a considerable distance down Lancaster Road (which leads to the park from the city centre), and from London Road (the A6) and Welford Road, the two main routes out of Leicester to the south. At the time of the memorial's construction, the area was much more open and the arch would have been visible from a greater distance, including from the railway to the south-west. Development in the area through the 20th century, including the buildings of the
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...
, now partially obscure the view.Radford & Cawthorne, p. 72. The setting was enhanced when, following the death of his wife in the 1930s, North commissioned Lutyens to design two processional entrances to Victoria Park, leading to the war memorial, as a gift to the city. Lutyens produced a pair of lodges and gates at the Granville Road entrance to Victoria Park, to the north-east of the memorial, and a set of gates and gate piers to the north-west, leading out onto University Road. The lodges are single-storey rectangular
pavilions In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
which flank the gates. The external walls are
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ed, giving the effect of
ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
, with
quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
s at the angles and large
sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s. Both have
architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...
s above the doorways and a
pulvinated 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 no ...
below the pyramidal slate roofs and large chimney stacks. The four gate piers are made of ashlar, matching the lodges. They support ornate iron gates which feature an overthrow incorporating Leicester's coat of arms. The gate piers at the University Road entrance are in Portland stone, matching the memorial, decorated with Tuscan
pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s and topped with an
entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
and tall
urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
s. They support two smaller pedestrian gates, one each side of a central pair. Above the central gates is an overthrow, again featuring the city's coat of arms. A processional way leads from both entrances to the war memorial, where the two paths meet. The long path from the memorial to the University Road gates is known as the Peace Walk (formerly War Memorial Approach) and is lined by shrub borders and formal flower beds. The access from the London Road entrance was laid out in 2016 as a ceremonial approach to the war memorial from the University Road entrance to Victoria Park.


History

The arch was unveiled on 4 July 1925 by two local widows, Mrs Elizabeth Butler and Mrs Annie Glover, in front of 30,000 people, including Lutyens and local dignitaries. Eight of Butler's sons served in the army during the war, of whom four were killed in action; Glover lost three sons, along with two nephews and two brothers-in-law.Boorman (2005), p. 143. The memorial was dedicated by
Cyril Bardsley Cyril Charles Bowman Bardsley (13 February 1870 – 20 December 1940) was an Anglican bishop in the first half of the 20th century. Bardsley was educated at Marlborough and New College, Oxford and ordained in 1895. His first post was as a cu ...
, Bishop of Peterborough, to the 12,000 men from Leicester and Leicestershire killed during the First World War. The total cost of the memorial was £27,000, of which £1,635 was Lutyens's fee and expenses. At the time of the unveiling, only £16,000 had been raised and by the end of 1925, the committee still had a shortfall of £5,500, which the five guarantors repaid to the bank out of their own pockets. The sum spent was similar to that raised for Rochdale Cenotaph, but the committee in Leicester decided to spend the entire sum on a monument (rather than a fund for wounded servicemen or war widows as in Rochdale), with the result that Leicester's is Lutyens's largest war memorial in Britain. It is 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 most imposing of Lutyens' English war memorials" and by Lutyens's biographer Christopher Hussey as one of Lutyens's "most spectacular" memorials, "in appearance and setting". Another biographer, Tim Skelton, laments that the memorial could have been yet more impressive had the commissioning process been smoother. Reporting on the unveiling, the local newspaper, the ''Leicester Advertiser'' praised the design but stridently criticised the war memorial committee, describing it as a "disgrace" that
nearly seven years after the cessation of hostilities we should be touting around to get money to pay for what should have been bought and paid for at least five years ago. It could have been obtained then quite easily, but dilatoriness on the part of those who had control and a lack of tact in dealing with the public caused the whole thing to fall flat.
The paper went on to compare the scheme with the carillon erected as a war memorial in the nearby town of
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...
, noting that "Leicester, though some eight times as big as Loughborough, has had a struggle to raise as much money as Loughborough has already spent". A ceremony is held at the memorial every year on
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 ...
. In 2017, the memorial was twinned with the India Gate in New Delhi to honour members of the Indian Labour Corps who served in the First World War. As part of the ceremonies, India's high commissioner to Britain laid a wreath at the Arch of Remembrance and Britain's high commissioner to India laid one at the India Gate. In 2018, Leicester City Council commissioned photography of the arch using a drone to reach parts of the memorial that cannot be viewed from the ground. The arch was designated 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 ...
in 1955 and upgraded to Grade I in 1996. The gates and gate piers leading to University Road are separately listed at Grade II*. Victoria Park itself is listed at Grade II on the
Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...
. Listed status provides legal protection from demolition or modification; Grade II* is applied to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" and applies to about 5.5 per cent of listed buildings. Grade I is reserved for buildings of "exceptional interest" and applied to only 2.5 per cent of listings. The Arch of Remembrance was one of 44 works included in a national collection of Lutyens's war memorials, designated 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 ...
in November 2015 as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War.


See also

Other war memorials: * Anglo-Boer War Memorial (Johannesburg), an earlier war memorial arch by Lutyens *
Midland Railway War Memorial The Midland Railway War Memorial is a First World War memorial in Derby in the East Midlands of England. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens, Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1921. The memorial commemorates employees of the Midland Railway who d ...
, another Lutyens memorial, in nearby Derby * City War Memorial, Nottingham, another First World War memorial arch in a nearby city Lists: * Grade I listed buildings in Leicester * Grade I listed war memorials in England


References


Bibliography

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Citations

{{reflist 1925 sculptures Buildings and structures in Leicester Grade I listed buildings in Leicestershire Grade I listed monuments and memorials Monuments and memorials in Leicestershire Outdoor sculptures in England Stone sculptures in the United Kingdom Works of Edwin Lutyens in England War memorials by Edwin Lutyens World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England