War Memorial Shelters

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1420382
Date first listed:: 04-Aug-2014
List Entry Name:: War Memorial Shelters

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1420382
Date first listed:: 04-Aug-2014
List Entry Name:: War Memorial Shelters
Location Description:: Shelters c.140m east of Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London

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

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

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

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

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: City of Westminster (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ2601180115

Summary

Pair of First World War commemorative shelters, 1919.

Reasons for Designation

The commemorative shelters east of Kensington Palace, erected in 1919, are listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: the structures, erected by the Silver Thimble Fund, commemorate the tragic impact of The Great War, and praise the soldiers and sailors who fought for Britain; * Design interest: the shelters are a restrained and simple neo-vernacular design, picturesque elements within the formal landscape setting; * Group value: there is a strong visual relationship between the shelters, Kensington Palace, the designed landscape and many other designated structures.

History

The two shelters in front of Kensington Palace were erected in 1919 by the Silver Thimble Fund. This organisation was created in 1915 to support servicemen in WWI; funds were raised by appealing to women on the home front to donate thimbles and trinkets made from precious metals. During wartime, funds from their sale were typically spent on health-related causes such as motor ambulances and mobile surgeries, and following the end of the war excess funds were used, in this instance, for a pair of commemorative shelters. The charity was re-established in WWII and also operated in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

An inscription on one of the shelters refers to the King’s address to naval Admiral John Jellicoe at the declaration of war, to ‘revive and renew the old glories of the Royal Navy, and prove once again the sure shield of Britain and of her Empire in the hour of trial.'

The seats inside the shelters were removed in 2013.

Details

Pair of First World War commemorative shelters, 1919.

MATERIALS: timber framed with timber cladding and roof shingles.

PLAN: the two shelters are rectangular in plan, situated 100m apart in line with the Broadwalk through Kensington Gardens.

DESCRIPTION: the shelters are simple in construction with four upright corner posts with cross braces supporting the roof structure, which overhangs deeply. There is matchboarding to the ends of the shelters, and across the middle, creating backs to the seats, now removed. There is a low timber screen above the matchboarding upon which commemorative panels are attached to either side. One shelter has the inscription ‘IN MEMORY OF OUR SAILORS / WHO UPHELD “BRITAIN’S SURE SHIELD” / 1914-1918’, and the other: ‘IN MEMORY OF OUR SOLDIERS / WHO FOUGHT IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1918’. Both are inscribed ‘ERECTED BY / “THE SILVER THIMBLE FUND” / 1919’. The roofs are hipped and covered with timber shingles.

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 February 2017.

Sources

Websites
Daily Mirror Headlines: The Declaration of War, Published 4 August 1914, accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/mirror01_01.shtml
War Memorials Online, accessed 10 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/225867
War Memorials Register, accessed 10 February 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/69698

Legal

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