College of the Venerable Bede War Memorial

First World War memorial, 1922.

MATERIALS: ashlar stone

DESCRIPTION: the memorial is located within the grounds of the College of St Hild and St Bede, over-looked by college buildings and the listed Grade II Chapel of the Venerable Bede. It takes the form of a slender cusped Latin cross, mounted on a square plinth, which has a bevelled foot and stands on a single step base. The cross has a central boss displaying the Cross of St George and the arms are decorated by an elaborate Celtic knot design, which is carved in relief. The cross is mounted on a tall tapering shaft that has narrow recessed rectangular panels to each side and a plain base. The north and south recessed panels of the shaft have Celtic knot inspired designs that are carved in relief. The plinth has a recessed rectangular panel to each elevation; the inscription on the south panel reads: IN LOVING AND PROUD MEMORY OF THOSE SONS OF BEDE/ WHO IN THE GREAT WAR/ WHERE SO MANY OF THEIR BROTHERS SERVED AND SUFFERED/ GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR KING AND COUNTRY. A line of five small rectangular recesses divides the inscription and the remainder reads: LEST WE FORGET - LEST WE FORGET/ GRAVENSTAFEL/ BEDE COMPANY 8TH DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY./ APRIL 25 1915. The three remaining panels are inscribed with the names of the 86 former students that were killed during the First World War, listed in date order of the year of their entry into the college. The memorial stands on a raised square-plan podium that is set back into a sloping ground surface; it has a stone-paved surface enclosed by coursed quarry-faced stone walls, with flat ashlar coping stones, and the rear wall supports a dry-stone revetted bank. The podium is entered by a flight of steps that are flanked by wing walls forming a shouldered entrance. Attached low stone walls enclose flower borders within the re-entrant angles of the south elevation of the podium.