BUCKHURST HILL’S GRADE II LISTED WAR MEMORIAL (WAR SHRINE) in front of ST STEPHEN’S CHURCH, ALBERT ROAD
The Buckhurst Hill Branch of the Royal British Legion is most grateful to the Parish Council for the work that the Council has done to improve the area which surrounds this War Memorial. As can be seen from the photograph the flower beds and the artificial grass have been removed and the area filled with attractive pebbles, giving more emphasis on the simplicity of the Memorial itself.
This memorial at St. Stephen’s Mission (as it was known early in the 1900s) records the names of the 84 servicemen who lived in the district and died in the Great War.
It is unusual in that it was dedicated on June 9th 1918 by the Bishop of Chelmsford, before the end of the Great War; most War Memorials were erected after the Armistice in November 1918. St. Stephen’s memorial was an exception and was originally known as a War Shrine.
The Memorial/Shrine, built by Underwoods of Baker Street, is described by Historic England as being in the form of a hooded limestone tablet framing a lancet shaped bronze plaque.
A central projecting Latin cross rises from the apex of the tablet hood.
On either side of the tablet is a small projecting limestone planter.
The whole sits on a square three-stepped base.
The memorial has this inscription:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES FOR GOD AND THE RIGHT
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.
In 2016 the Memorial was granted Grade II Designation by Historic England mainly for its historic interest ‘as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the First World War’, but also because, unusually, the memorial ‘has not been adapted for Second World War commemoration and thus retains its original design intent’
In 2013 a project was undertaken to replace the lost cross on top of the memorial with the help of grant aid from the War Memorials Trust and donations from Buckhurst Hill’s British Legion and Residents’ Society.
The Lych Gate at St. John’s Church in the High Road commemorates the fallen of both World Wars.
Margaret Sinfield Chairman Buckhurst Hill Branch RBL