Summary

First World War memorial, 1921, with later additions for the Second World War.

Description

The war memorial stands in the churchyard in the angle of the tower and north aisle of St Mary’s church (listed Grade I). It comprises a c6m high limestone Calvary which is set at the head of a tapering octagonal shaft. The shaft rises from a crenellated base. This is set on an octagonal plinth, which itself stands on a shallow octagonal base.

Inscribed on the plinth is 1939-1945, with the names of those commemorated below and on the flanking plinth faces. The names of those who fell in the First World War are inscribed on a slate plaque set in to the north face of the church tower, behind the memorial. This plaque bears the principal inscription THIS CROSS IS DEDICATED TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN/ GRATEFUL MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN OF WOODFORD WHO/ LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 17 January 2017.

History

Woodford, unusually, has two freestanding war memorials. Following the end of the First World War a committee, under the Comrades Club, was formed to oversee the erection of a memorial in January 1919. It is believed that the church did not approve the design which was forthcoming – an obelisk – and accordingly arrangements were made to construct a second memorial in the churchyard near the north wall of the tower. The war memorial obelisk on the Green was unveiled on Woodford Feast Sunday (10 July) 1921; the memorial Calvary in the churchyard was unveiled on 15 October 1921 by Colonel Stopford-Sackville and dedicated by the Bishop of Peterborough.

Reasons for Listing

Woodford’s churchyard war memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20;
* Design: a well-carved limestone Calvary;
* Group value: with the Grade I-listed St Mary’s church.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26677270

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)