Ellistown WW1 Centenary Memorial

World War I

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  • Listing Status: Not Individually Listed
  • District: NW Leics
  • Made by: Deborah Frith
  • Parish: Ibstock

Memorial commissioned during the Centenary of WW1 to commemorate those from Ellistown who died in the conflict. Unveiled 30th November 2014. Standing Rotherham Red stone sculpture by Deborah Frith with relief carved upper section depicting oversized poppies and barbed wire. Rivulet-like finish to front of block. Bears black name plaques with gilded inscriptions, and a wreath holder to lower front (wreath holder was an addition made slightly later, designed in by Deborah Frith). Set within landscaped paved area at corner of Whitehill Road and Beveridge Lane. Ground works designed and managed by L Clewlow, Leicestershire County Council. The memorial was assembled on site by Busby Monumental Masons. On 30th Novemeber, Lady Gretton, Major Bream, and Rev Olwen Woolcock helped to officially open the new War Memorial at Ellistown funded through Sence Valley Environment Improvement Fund. / Mr Harding, a local resident with local family connections to the First World War, removed the veil and the public were delighted to get their first viewing of the Memorial. / Local people can continue the connection with the Centenary of War through a local history project, Ellistown Centenary of Stories, which started in February 2015. Source: Ellistown and Battleflat Parish Council

Gallery
View Further Details Memorial Type:Cenotaph Ref: WMP2278 Notes: The following account of the commission of the memorial was given by the sculptor Deborah Frith in 2016: 'I saw the commission posted on the Arts Council Website. I live an hour away near Rotherham, so I thought it would be good to enter for it. My idea was based on how it would be like in the trenches with the sides towering above the soldiers, and I wanted to use fallen poppies to represent war. I did a sketch and sent it in. It was with great delight that my design was chosen, however I was hoping to create it in brick - carved before I fired them. I drew two examples, one in brick and one in stone, hoping that they would choose the brick as it would be cheaper. They wanted stone. AArgh. I went down to the first meeting where I met everyone and was told they definitely wanted it in stone as they already had an artwork across the roundabout in brick. Ok. Stone it was. I found the stone I wanted to use and at the next meeting with councillors and local representatives I showed a maquette of what the monument would look like scaled down and the stone I was going to use to get approval from the community. I also went to meet a community group to get a response of how they liked my idea and see if there were any suggestions they might like to contribute with, it happens this was a good move concerning the plaque which, due to those suggestions is different to what it might have been. This was quite an adventure as I hadn't used stone before, but I had always worked as a sculptor, so I approached it as just a new medium, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I sourced the stone from a local quarry at Ulley. Pete was very helpful and the stone was perfect as when it is dry it is blue in colour, but when wet it is pink, which was perfect for the poppy element. It also complimented the colours in the ground works Leigh had designed perfectly. I had the stone delivered and set to work. The stone was beautiful to carve although I had to adapt what I did for the qualities of the stone are different from the maquette - so it wouldn't be prone to damage. Leigh Clewlow sorted out the groundworks with her contractor for the plinth and I commissioned a local Leicestershire Monumental Stone Mason to install it. The plaque is made from English slate and through Wath Marble Company had the names CNC'd on the plaque which was the most cost effective way of doing it. I chose English slate because it had a rough texture on the surface and when wet it was very dark. When I did the community work one of the comments was that no one remembered the Bevan Boys that were conscripted in the war to work the pits. So I chose the slate because it looked like coal to make that connection. The sculpture plaque was designed to make people get close to the sculpture to read the names, so that they were up against the height of the wall which is why the face is textured like a trench face. However, when the sculpture was in place, people felt that the lettering needed gold leafing in a traditional manner which I completed in the summer of 2015. It took a while because I had to wait for the calmest days possible as placing gold leaf in place was like trying to plait fog!! Finally I got it finished and covered the whole plaque with a protective coating of monument varnish specially for protecting gold leaf. There was also a further request to fix a wreath holder to the monument. Until it was physically in place it had not been realised how the wind caught on the roundabout, so I designed a holder to compliment the sculpture that would fix the problem. I think the final piece is a credit to Ellistown and hopefully they will feel very proud of it for years to come'. Verification Required: No

Location

Roadside, Beveridge Lane / Whitehill Road - Ellistown
Grid Reference: SK4280411476 Get Directions

Inscription Reads

[45 NAMES] / FOR YOUR TOMORROW WE GAVE OUR TODAY

Casualties Listing

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Name Rank Unit Batt Died Mason - Benjamin Private Leicestershire Regiment 2/5 16/04/1943 Mason - Wilfred Private Leicestershire Regiment 2/5 26/09/1917 Nicholls - Charles Private Northumberland Fusiliers 1 11/04/1918 Orton - F Partner - Harry Private Leicestershire Regiment 1/4 04/05/1918
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