Eastbourne shed walls made of CWGC headstones

[kenf48]

I would have thought the Redoubt should be the first port of call rather than Newhaven; or even Eastbourne Museums if that's the route considered appropriate. Sorry to sound parochial but as you are in touch with the Borough Conservation Officer if they are still intact as you suggest perhaps it should be their decision as part of the towns heritage.

It seems they were used in the pre-war spirit of 'waste not want not' rather than our throw away culture.

Having said that if they are not of historical interest to the town fwiw I'm with Keith, as they were originally rejected they should be destroyed.

Ken

[Liz in Eastbourne]

Thanks, Ken.

The museums officer is involved and the Redoubt is already in my mind as one possibility. It does look as though Newhaven Fort is bigger though and it's useful to have other possibilities in mind. It would indeed be their decision, not mine or ours - I just thought it would be useful to canvas views.

Which other Eastbourne Museums do you mean? It's a sore point that there is no proper Eastbourne Museum. The Heritage Museum is tiny, and the stones aren't for local men or even men buried locally, so are only peripherally part of the town's heritage (local stonemason's work). But I am sure the museums officer will have a view.

Liz

[Paul Reed]

I thought The Redoubt was a regimental museum? In these days of shrinking funds they might not want items not relevant to their existing collection. That's why I suggested Newhaven.

[kenf48]

I thought The Redoubt was a regimental museum? In these days of shrinking funds they might not want items not relevant to their existing collection. That's why I suggested Newhaven.

Paul

It's official title is 'Redoubt Fortress and Military Museum' and although it's core are the Regimental Collections it's run by Eastbourne Borough Council (and the major exhibition last year - ironically in light of my comment of 'waste not want not' had no Regimental connection but showcased needlecraft in WW2).

However I agree with your observations about shrinking funds and also Liz's comments. They would only make sense if they were placed in a historical/social context with the pantograph etc and also the scale of production in the town.

Otherwise they are just a curiosity.

[Mikeo]

Just chanced upon an article in the 'Eastbourne Local Historian' (Number 111 in 1999) entitled 'Two Francis Families' which deals with Richard Francis, the local stonemason. This says that Richard F's firm was one of the two main contractors in Eastbourne who were commissioned to make headstones for the war graves. They were asked to supply memorials for a number of sites in France and Belgium, as well as the base for the Eastbourne war memorial and the war graves in the local cemeteries.

M

[OpsMajor]

Has anyone thought of offering them to any family remaining of the identified soldiers - or is that too bizarre?

Mike

[Hedley Malloch]

On reading this thread I am reminded of a saying attributed to Oscar Wilde to the effect that those people who like sausage, and admire the law should never see either being made. The MD of Revlon made a similar observation when he said: 'we process whale fat - but we sell dreams'.

Making memory, in this case headstones, is an industrial process which will produce scrap and waste. It has to be disposed of somehow. What matters is that these soldiers are appropriately commemorated by the CWGC - and they are. If these were the only headstones or memorial for these soldiers, then there would be a case for conserving them. But they are not. The matter should be left there.

Incidentally there is house in either Pozières or Courcelette (?) whose garden is full of scrap CWGC headstones. I understand that the house once belonged to an employee of the CWGC.

[Liz in Eastbourne]

Thanks Mikeo for the clarification about Francis, one of the two stonemasons involved.

I think most of us are broadly in agreement with you, HM, and I've just taken this on to be sure that the situation is clarified - what is true is that many who have encountered these stones have worried that the soldiers hadn't been commemorated properly. I wouldn't have advocated (even if these stones had survived, about which more shortly) contacting families as you suggest, OpsMajor, because it would take a lot of work and families would want to see the actual graves, not reject gravestones, I think. It would as you say have been a bit bizarre.

Anyway, this morning I went to the site with the council's conservation officer and we found that in fact most of the headstones had already been broken up. One of the builders who had been interested enough to do some research on one of the soldiers, wondering if he had had a proper headstone, told us there were about 40. About ten damaged stones, several covered in paint, remained and were brought from the site in a dumper truck for us to look at. The museums officer has said the Redoubt military museum may be able to take two or three, as they are of interest in showing Eastbourne's part in WW1 and the process of commemoration.

I've taken some photos of the headstones and also the other day printed out the story from the Gazette of 30 June, 1993, about the discovery of a headstone in an Eastbourne garden. Then, too, the householder was afraid the soldier had gone uncommemorated.

At least we've put on the online record the evidence that this is not so.

Liz

[joanbelge]

Glad you were still able to vist Liz. I was surprised to hear that originally there were 40 stones from theprevious photos I had assumed there were only 3 or 4.

best wishes

Joan

[salientpoints]

As a trustee of the Sussex Combined Services Museum (of the 3 collections housed in the council owned building) I wanted to follow up to see if anything further had been done on this or if it needs picking up (such as do we need to collect any headstones for posterity before they are demolished?

However my understanding is the pumping station building is to be left as it is listed so the site will be redeveloped and someone will no doubt in turn have these headstones encased behind plaster in a nice new flat.

That is actually a lasting legacy I would be happy to have in my home.

Ryan

[Eastbourne Heritage]

Hi,

The building was sadly demolished, however we managed to salvage some of the stones before they were destroyed. We will be investigating the soldiers named on the stones.