relocation of a WWI monument : precedents ?

[Vista52]

I was sent as a young child to look at the Wood Green (London) War Memorial and find my g'uncle's name. I went back 4 years ago and swear the Memorial is on the other side of the street. Anyone remember??

[Guest tafski]

the war memorial at Porth S Wales was resited due to road improvements

tafski

[baorbrat]

The War Memorial at Advie, is being reconstructed at a new location. A lorry knocked the top off the old one.

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Guyhirn War Memorial was moved in the 1980s,from its river bank site of the 1920s,due to the building of the new A47 Guyhirn Bridge & Roundabout system,it was moved to the grounds of Mary Magdelene Church Guyhirn,which has since become redundant,posing the possibility of yet a further move in the not too distant future should the Church & Grounds be sold & redeveloped???

[Jim Clay]

I used to live just along Harrow Road from At Home Dad's Harrow Green memorial...

The memorial in Knighton, Powys, used to be sited at the junction of Church Road and Station Road. Heavy vehicles accessing and exiting the late remoulds factory in Mill Green via Church Road I imagine posed a considerable threat to the memorial. It was moved (I think in the 1980s, maybe early 90s) to the site of the former (now demolished) police station at the junction of Station Road and the main street, Bridge Street/Broad Street. A photo of the memorial in its current location appears in Memorial Man's 'Roll of Honour' website. A scan of an early 20s OS map showing the old location appears in Graeme and Gwyn's 'Drill Halls' thread.

Jim

Edited 25 July , 2008 by Jim Clay

[irishmen1916]

The Orange Order Memorial at Thiepval, was moved to the back of the Ulster Tower from the road side near by, after been hit and damaged by a drunken driver one night.

[Nigel Marshall]

The Orange Order Memorial at Thiepval, was moved to the back of the Ulster Tower from the road side near by, after been hit and damaged by a drunken driver one night.

I have a book which states that the Orange Order Memorial was moved because it was illegally sited, permission for it not having been confirmed before it was placed. I will endeavour to provide the source if required (I can't remember which book it is mentioned in so it will mean leafing through the lot!).

Moving closer to home, one of the two memorials which are the subjects of my website, the memorial at Scholes, near Leeds was moved in 1951 to coincide with the festival of Britain. It was previously situated (with the plaque for WWII) on the wall of the parish council building underneath the window and clock facing the main road through the village. It is now mounted on a sloping tablet set into a raised garden within another garden, all laid out by the village youth group in preparation for the Festival of Britian in 1951.

The municipal Leeds City Memorial was moved from City Square to the Headrow, but off the top of my head I cannot remember the date, however I think it was between the wars.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Stephen Nulty]

Here's one I wish WOULD be moved!

Warrington War Memorial is on the "Bridge Foot" island in the town centre and as the road network has "developed" over the years it has become increasingly isolated by the busiest junction in the town, a road where brave men fear to drive.

Just to the north of the memorial is the River Mersey as it passes through the town, whist the other two sides of it are adjacent to 5 lanes of traffic. There is a footpath to it, but first you have to get across the 5 lanes of traffic!

I understand that there have been various schemes to relocate it into the grounds of the Town Hall, but nothing has ever materialised.

[irishmen1916]

I have a book which states that the Orange Order Memorial was moved because it was illegally sited, permission for it not having been confirmed before it was placed. I will endeavour to provide the source if required (I can't remember which book it is mentioned in so it will mean leafing through the lot!).

Hi Nigel,

Thats interesting, have a look at this old post

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...+Order+Memorial

Peter

[Anthony Gorst]

Hallo all

One of my local's, Harrow Green War Memorial, stands on what

is now (but wasn't then) a large 'traffic island/roundabout'.

This island, in a moat of never ending traffic, is guarded (rather like the

apes on the Rock of Gibraltar), by a host of Leyton & Leytonstone's

top brass wino's and crackheads.

It's location is precisely the reason it goes unnoticed by the public,

or worse, is looked upon as a place of filth and uninviting. This disdain

can also easily lead to it being knocked down without regret in the name

of a road widening scheme. Added to which the location is doing nothing

for the monument other than causing it to be fast eaten by pollution.

Any metal work will soon be stolen, and probably go unnoticed by most

drivers who dont look at it anyway, there's too much traffic and three

major junctions plus East London driving to contend with!

We have many parks and open spaces in very close proximity where it

could easily be moved to, and be made accessible to school children,

relatives and the mildly curious, etc.

I cannot think of a case against moving it.

Kind regards all!

Couldn't agree more! Breaks my heart every time I walk past it - there are wreaths there but sadly one's attention is drawn to the aforementioned 'leytonstone's finest.' The problem is that there there is no real park in Leytonstone, on the other hand in Leyton there is cornonation gardens park (although that already has a war memorial which because it is in a public park is well maintained.).

[Anthony Gorst]

Hello,

I would be interested to be informed about any relocation of WWI monuments and the reasons why and why not.

Being confronted with a possible case I would like to gather precedental information.

Not sure if this is relevant or not but - the Polytechnic had three memeorials to it's dead none of which are in it's original place (is this a record?). An inscription was added to the pre-existing statue of Quintin Hogg that sat outside the Poly at 309 Regent Street - it was moved in (I think) the 1920s probably for traffic reasons. The memorial in the foyer of 309 regent Street was moved in the mid 1950s from one side to another (probably because of a redesign of the layout of the building). The third, on the POly Sports Ground in Chiswick, no longer exists courtesy of enemy action in World War Two.

[MBrockway]

Don't like to contradict you Chris, but I am pretty sure it was due to land of the Bellewaarde estate being sold off in the 70s. The memorial was then, as now, in the care of CWGC, so there was no major issue about it being moved. Although it was indeed a shame it was moved, as it is out of context at Hill 60.

Pals,

Thumbing through my library the other day, I came across this picture of the 14th (Light) Division Memorial - but see the caption:

[source: Flanders Then & Now - The Ypres Salient & Passchendaele by John Giles]

The source is a good book, but it's more of an album than a work of scholarship. I've heard the reason for the move was to do with land ownership too, so I'm more inclined to go with Paul here.

Cheers,

Mark

[rockbabe]

i know this is an old thread but just wanted to add another memorial that has been moved. no idea when, i only found out when i went looking for it for my family tree research.

Shepshed in Leicestershire, the memorial apparently used to be in the town centre where everyone could see it. When i decided to do my family tree and discovered a relative might be on the memorial i went looking for it.

Couldn't find it so asked at the library, they said it was moved to the park due to vandalism. Fair enough i thought so i went to the park, no sign of any memorial so i asked someone in the park who pointed out a small lane running alongside the park. I finally found the memorial, surrounded by a high metal locked fence. i couldn;t get close enough to it to read the names so i zoomed in with my digital camera and took a pic hoping this would help!- no such luck, i ended up going back into the library and they found a list of the names on the memorial which someone had typed up.

i'm actually quite annoyed about it, my great uncle is one of the men named and i';m proud of that, but very sad that they have been moved to somewhere out of sight and mostly forgotten about except for Rememberance Sunday each year, the fact no one can even read the names from the other side of the fence is appalling in my opinion.

[zippy.72]

Warsop Vale memorial in Nottinghamshire moved about 3 years ago. From what I understand this was part of a building comapny being given permission to construct new homes within village.

[Rockdoc]

Langley Mill (Derbyshire) memorial was moved a couple of hundred yards to the churchyard some time ago. It was on a bank alongside the access road to the railway station but when this became unstable the memorial was moved. It's easier to access now than it was before.

Keith

[Guest Leicestershire&Rutland]

Hi there,

I wondered if during your research anyone was able to tell you when the memorial was moved to the park? Some individuals in the town are currently considering moving the memorial back to a more accessible location, although there will be fears about vandalism occurring if it is moved again.

We are Leicestershire County Council's War Memorials Project, and you should be able to find out more about your relative in our database, which is now online at http://warmemorials.leics.gov.uk - you can search for either a name, or a memorial, but for WW1 a name search will bring up more detailed records from Michael Doyle's research.

I ask about the date of relocation of the war memorial, because we are still trying to find out! Shepshed Town Council have got someone looking into the Shepshed newspaper articles for them, and they may be able to uncover some further information. They are keen to research their casualties from all conflicts and get the local schools using what they discover.

I don't know if you have seen a fantastic book on the Shepshed WW1 casualties by Russell Fisher, entitled Soldiers of Shepshed Remembered (2008), but this is a wonderful piece of research!

Regards,

Leicestershire and Rutland War Memorials Project

[Guest exuser1]

In East London old Ford road site i was working on which was a disused factory the memorial was re used in the main entrence ,had usual great war casualties ,but also for WW2 had the caretaker who was killed during the blitz ,a one that got away was the Black Swan Public House Bow road for those killed in the Zepp raid in 1915 ,also ST Andrews Hospital Bow has been demolished for new houseing and the chapel as gone which included a memorial but not sure what the council have decided to do .

[Sapper D.]

The memorial to Lt. Keith Rae, Rifle Brigade. Moved from the Chateau at Hooge because the family Vink could no longer properly take care of it, and moved to just outside Sanctuary Wood CWGC Cemetary. In the 70's, I believe.

[Sly]

Hi,

Several WW1 memorials have been relocated or have "disappeared" in the 1960s after the land consolidation in France. The land consolidation was to consolidate agricultural land belonging to one or more owners divided into many scattered plots. The rule was that "each owner shall receive in the new plot, a total area equivalent in value of real productivity, to the land he has made." I know a french memorial to the 327ème R.I which was moved at Vermandovillers in the mid-1980 from the field where it was originally set on the exact location of the battlefields to the church of the village 2km away.

Sly

[aradgick]

The War Memorial in Bracknell, Berkshire has moved twice. This was due in part to the redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960's after it had been designated a 'new town' after WWII. It is now sited beside the Royal British Legion building.

[Phil Wood]

The War Memorial in Hanham Nr. Bristol where I live was moved on the 1950's from its original location in the centre of a 'T' Junction as 'it had become a danger to traffic' (although I think the reverse was probably the case!).

Its present location in the grounds of the Folk Centre at the end of a pathway with lawns on either side and entered by the 39-45 Memorial Gates is ideal.

Dave

A number of West Berkshire war memorials have been moved for one reason or another.

Some for sensible reasons - such as the demolition of the building they were in, others more controversially - the most obvious example being the memorial in Thatcham town centre - once right in the middle of town where shoopers would see it as they walked past ; now it is alongside the main road through the town (A4) where motorists might notice if they get held up by the nearby pelican crossing.