Shepley War Memorial is a Grade II listed building in the Kirklees local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 March 2018. War memorial.
Shepley War Memorial
- WRENN ID
- lone-pillar-russet
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Kirklees
- Constituency
- Ossett and Denby Dale MP: Jade Botterill (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 9 March 2018
- Type
- War memorial
- OS grid reference
- SE 196 094
- Coordinates
- 53.58145, -1.70468
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Shepley War Memorial is a war memorial erected in 1921, designed by sculptor J Swift from Doncaster. The bronze statue was cast by Messrs Benton Brothers at the Rodley Lane Foundry in Sheffield, with additional inscriptions added after the Second World War.
The memorial is located in an elevated position near the recreation grounds southeast of Shepley. It features a bronze statue of an infantry soldier in full service dress, complete with boots, puttee, uniform, webbing, ammunition pouches, flask, backpack, and helmet, holding a rifle with a fixed bayonet in the rest position. The soldier stands with his head bowed solemnly, facing the village of Shepley.
The structure includes a tapered Cornish granite pedestal, plinth, and stepped base. The pedestal has a moulded base, string course, and cornice. On the front (north-west) face of the pedestal, there is a bronze plaque with the inscription: "ERECTED TO THE GRATEFUL MEMORY OF OUR/ BROTHERS WHO SERVED FOUGHT AND FELL IN/ THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918/ IN MEMORIAM/ [NAMES]/ RIP." Below this is a smaller bronze plaque with a single name. The north-east face of the pedestal features a plaque inscribed with "NAMES OF MEN WHO SERVED/ [NAMES]." The other faces carry plaques inscribed with names, totaling 261 names of those who served during the First World War.
On the base of the front face of the pedestal, there is an additional bronze plaque added after the Second World War, inscribed with "1939-1945/ [NAMES]/ NOT JUST TODAY BUT EVERYDAY IN SILENCE WE REMEMBER," which includes eleven names of those who lost their lives. Above the string course at the top of the pedestal, a plaque added in 2014 commemorates those who have served in subsequent conflicts, inscribed with "HONOURING THOSE WHO STAND/ AND SUFFER IN CONFLICT."
Local climate
Shepley War Memorial receives an average of 950 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 73% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 64% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 45 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 87% of listed buildings. Of these, 26 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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