Otley War Memorial Cross and Memorial Garden, Otley, Leeds

Summary

First World War memorial designed by WG Collingwood, originally situated in the churchyard of All Saints Parish Church, Otley, and unveiled on 20 November 1920. It was relocated to the Second World War memorial garden in Bondgate, erected in 1955 with the cross installed in 1966.

Description

First World War memorial cross, 1920, within a later garden of remembrance, 1955.

PLAN: a rectangular garden with dwarf walls forming the south, east and west boundaries with the north boundary wall forming the memorial sanctuary. To the centre is a rectangular sunken garden surrounded on all sides by paved walkways leading to the war memorial cross in front of the sanctuary. Raised flower beds abut the dwarf perimeter walls.

DESCRIPTION: The memorial garden stands on the north side of Bondgate and is surrounded by a number of buildings listed at Grade II. The memorial cross is located to the rear of the gardens on a paved area against the backdrop of the sanctuary. It comprises an Anglo-Saxon style cross with the front face of the cross decorated with carved portraits of animals and saints around a central boss in the cross-head. The cross surmounts a tapered shaft, rectangular in section, which has figurative designs in panels. These depict portraits of saints above a scene of a monk kneeling in front of an angel. Underneath is the inscription carved in relief which reads TO THE GLORY/ OF GOD/ AND IN MEMORY/ OF THOSE FROM/ OTLEY/ WHO FELL/ IN THE WAR/ 1914 – 1918. The sides are richly decorated with carved Anglo-Saxon designs incorporating plant scrolls, plaiting and interlace, and birds and animals, and the back is similar with further portraits. The shaft is set upon a three-stepped rectangular base; the middle step bears the inscription [ILLEGIBLE] WITHIN THE CHURCH RECORDS THEIR NAMES.

The memorial garden consists of a memorial sanctuary wall, sunken garden and raised flower beds enclosed by dwarf boundary walls. The sanctuary takes the form of a stepped stone wall bearing plaques in dedication to the local servicemen who died during the Second World War and in later conflicts. The wall is constructed of narrow, coursed stone blocks surmounted by flat stone coping. The taller central section is flanked by walls which drop lower in stages; each flanking section steps progressively forward. A two-stepped, paved platform leads up to the memorial wall. To the centre are four bronze plaques affixed to ashlar stone panels beneath a hooded lintel. The top centre plaque has a foliate design to each corner and contains the principal inscription OTLEY WAR MEMORIAL/ THIS GARDEN WAS BUILT TO/ THE MEMORY OF ALL WHO/ DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY/ 1939 – 1945. Below are three plaques with names. That to the left has the inscription 1939 - 1945/ (29 NAMES) /1956 /(1 NAME); the central panel is inscribed 1939 - 1945 /(30 NAMES); and that to the right is inscribed 1939 – 1945 /(30 NAMES) /1972/ (1 NAME). Affixed to the wall adjacent to the stone panel are small rectangular plaques which were added later; one to the left and two to the right. That to the left bears the dedication IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO/ SERVED AND FELL ON/ D-DAY JUNE 6TH 1944/ AND DURING THE/ NORMANDY CAMPAIGN/ WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. To the right the top plaque is inscribed TO COMMEMORATE/ THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF/ THE END OF HOSTILITIES/ 1939 – 1945/ AND ALL FROM OTLEY/ WHO/ SERVED. FOUGHT. AND DIED./ LEST WE FORGET. The plaque below holds a dedication to a local man who died in active service in Afganistan.

The garden is bounded by dwarf, roughly coursed, rock-faced stone walls to the south, east and west surmounted with flat stone coping. The principal entrance is to the south, positioned centrally with short, square gate piers and decorative metal gates attached. The gates include scroll metalwork and the dates 1914-18 to the left and 1939-45 to the right; they are painted black with the dates picked out in gold. There is a secondary gated entrance to the north end of the east boundary wall. Raised flower beds, contained within retaining walls of narrow, coursed stone blocks, are situated against the perimeter walls to the east, west and south. To the centre is a rectangular sunken garden of similar construction and raised kerbs to the edges.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Within the garden are park benches*, lamp posts*, a flag pole* and freestanding planters*.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the Act') it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special or historic interest.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England, both as a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was raised at Otley as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War. Designed by WG Collingwood, the memorial has been described as his most important memorial outside of Cumbria (Townend 2009, 248). Collingwood was inspired by fragments of an Anglo-Saxon cross in Otley which he studied and produced a reconstruction drawing of. This was published in his book on the Northumbrian crosses. In a memorandum on the Otley fragments he noted "in working out the full-size drawings for the restoration which was intended as a war-memorial, various points of some interest have come into notice, enabling me to give a more complete reconstruction of the whole" (Townend 2009, 249). The war memorial was identical to this drawing but has since been repaired with a replacement cross-head which faces the opposite way round to Collingwood’s drawing. The memorial was carved by Collingwood's daughter Barbara, at the family home at Lanehead, Coniston, as recorded in his diary entry for 27 July 1920.

In April 1918 it was agreed to erect a memorial commemorating the local men who died during the First World War to be sited within the churchyard of the Parish Church of All Saints. Plans were submitted in December 1919 and the memorial was unveiled by the former vicar of Otley, the Reverend GT Shettle, and dedicated by the Bishop of Bradford on 20 November 1920.

Following the end of the Second World War a scheme for a garden of remembrance, including rest rooms for the elderly, was approved in 1946. It was to be sited on the corner of Crossgate and Bondgate, which was then occupied by the Civic Restaurant. The scheme was unable to go ahead until the restaurant finally closed in 1953, by which point the costs had increased and the plans for a rest room could not be instigated. The scheme was revised and following calls for further donations, work commenced on the gardens in July 1955. The memorial was to include a sunken garden and a sanctuary containing the names of the 89 servicemen who died during the Second World War on bronze plaques. Provision was also made for seating within the garden. Further names and plaques were added later in dedication to those who died in later conflicts.

The First World War memorial cross was relocated to the memorial gardens in 1966 and is now situated on a paved area against the backdrop of the sanctuary. The memorial cross had to be repaired following damage in 1983.

William Gershom Collingwood (1854–1932) designed several memorials including the cross to John Ruskin at Coniston and First World War Cumbrian memorials at Grasmere, Coniston and Hawkshead amongst others. Collingwood was a pupil of Ruskin’s and had been helping him at Brantwood editing a number of Ruskin's texts. Collingwood’s biography of Ruskin, published in 1893 and rewritten in 1900, became a standard work. In the 1890s Collingwood found his vocation as a painter and also became interested in Lake District history. He joined the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society in 1887 studying Norse and Anglican archaeology in the north, particularly the artistic aspect of it, on which he became widely recognised as the leading authority. His most important work, Northumbrian Crosses of the pre-Norman Age, was published in 1927. These interests influenced his 1901 design of Ruskin’s memorial which was in the form of an Anglo-Celtic cross with interlace scrollwork and symbolic panels (Grade II) and his First World War memorial designs. Collingwood’s interlace designs for each memorial are all individual and not repeated. Informed by his scholarly and artistic expertise they are among the most distinguished works that he produced in his career.

Less is known of his daughter, Barbara Collingwood (1887-1961), who was active as a sculptor in the early C20. She was born at Cartmell Fell in 1887. Her address in 1910 was University College Reading, where she was presumably a student. That year she exhibited at the Bristol Academy annual Spring exhibition. She later married Oscar Gnosspelius, a civil engineer. As well as the Otley war memorial, she carved the Hawkshead and Coniston war memorials also designed by her father.

Reasons for Listing

Otley War Memorial Cross and memorial garden are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on this local community, and the sacrifice it has made in the conflicts of the C20;
* Architectural interest: an ornate and striking memorial cross with an impressive composition of finely carved stonework figurative panels and other designs, set within a well-executed garden of remembrance with a stepped-wall sanctuary and sunken garden;
* Designer: the memorial cross is an excellent example of the work of William Gershom Collingwood informed by his scholarly and artistic expertise studying Norse and Anglican archaeology and early Northumbrian Crosses;
* Design: the design of the memorial cross is based on Collingwood’s reconstruction drawing of fragments of an Anglo-Saxon cross in Otley;
* Sculptor: the cross is a rare example of a war memorial sculpted by a female sculptor, Barbara Collingwood, the daughter of the designer;
* Group value: with nearby Grade II-listed buildings, including the adjacent Bowling Green Hotel.

External Links

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