Lower Swell War Memorial

B4068, Lower Swell

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1089867
Date first listed:
25-Aug-1960
List Entry Name:
Lower Swell War Memorial
Statutory Address:
B4068, Lower Swell
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Date:
2001-08-21
Reference:
IOE01/05303/07
Rights:
© Mr Innes G. Inglis. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1089867
Date first listed:
25-Aug-1960
List Entry Name:
Lower Swell War Memorial
Statutory Address 1:
B4068, Lower Swell

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
B4068, Lower Swell

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Gloucestershire
District:
Cotswold (District Authority)
Parish:
Swell
National Grid Reference:
SP1737625528

Summary

First World War memorial, 1921, by Sir Edwin Lutyens with later additions for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Lower Swell War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principle reasons: * Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflicts of the C20; * Architect: by the nationally renowned architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944), who designed extant 58 memorials at home and abroad including the Cenotaph in Whitehall; * Group value: with Rosemary Cottage, and the adjoining wall and conduit head, both Grade II-listed.

History

It is assumed that Lutyens was commissioned via Mark Fenwick, for whom Lutyens undertook work at his nearby house, Abbotswood, in the early 1900s. The memorial was unveiled on 31 July 1921 by Colonel Brooke DSO of the Grenadier Guards. The addition of ‘S’ to the final line of the dedication on the memorial (IN THE GREAT WARS) shows the many and various ways in which people sought to modify memorials to include the fallen of the Second World War

Sir Edwin Lutyens OM RA (1869-1944) was the leading English architect of his generation. Before the First World War his reputation rested on his country houses and his work at New Delhi, but during and after the war he became the pre-eminent architect for war memorials in England, France and the British Empire. While the Cenotaph in Whitehall (London) had the most influence on other war memorials, the Thiepval Arch was the most influential on other forms of architecture. He designed the Stone of Remembrance which was placed in all Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries and in some cemeteries in England, including some with which he was not otherwise associated.

Details

The memorial, on a small green at the heart of the village, takes the form of a flaming, bulbous, urn standing atop a square pedestal in limestone ashlar set on shallow base of three steps. The pedestal is inscribed:

(south-west): IN MEMORY/ OF/ THE MEN OF/ NETHER SWELL/ WHO/ GAVE THEIR LIVES/ IN THE GREAT WARS

(south-east): MCM/ XIV/ MCM/ XIX/ MCMXXXIX/ MCMXLV

(north-east): (NAMES)

(north-west): MCM/ XIV/ MCM/ XIX/ MCMXXXIX/ MCMXLV



This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 26/10/2015

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, 10 January 2017.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
129996
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Skelton, T, Gliddon, G, Lutyens and the Great War, (2008), 80, 83, 172
Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 10 January 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/103069
War Memorials Register, accessed 10 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/20995

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Lower Swell War Memorial

Map

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2025. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2025. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.

End of official list entry

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