Bus shelter/War Memorial

1724/0/10047

DUNCHURCH THE GREEN Bus shelter/war memorial

07-NOV-07

GV II A thatched timber shelter, dating from 1949, erected as a memorial to the men of the village who fell in World War Two; it was built by local craftsmen to a design by Mr Castle, of the Warwickshire Rural Community Council.

MATERIALS: The shelter is built from local ash and elm timbers, with a thatched roof of native fir thatched with reed.

PLAN: The shelter is a simple rectangle on plan.

EXTERIOR: The structure consists of upright rustic ash poles, clad to eaves height to the rear of the shelter, with wide, waney-edged elm boards, which rise to half-height on the front and to the sides of the shelter. The thatched roof is hipped, and has a decorative ridge.

INTERIOR: The interior has a continuous timber bench running around three sides, and the underside of the roof is clad in softwood tongue-and-groove timber.

HISTORY: The bus shelter was endowed by a local dignitary, Alderman A L Adkinson, JP, then Chairman of Dunchurch Parish Council, in 1949, as a World War II war memorial. Minutes from the Parish Council meetings of that year record the Alderman's proposal, and later, discussions on the style and positioning of the shelter, which was designed by a Mr Castle, Rural Industries Organiser for Warwickshire Rural Community Council. It was deliberately constructed using local materials in a style which reflected the local vernacular traditions of timber framing and thatch. The official opening took place on 14 December 1949, as part of a ceremony during which the Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council thanked the Alderman for his gift and formally accepted the bus shelter as a war memorial maintainable under the War Memorials (Local Authorities' Powers) Act 1923. The ceremony and dedication was reported in detail in the Rugby Advertiser on 16 December 1949.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The memorial bus shelter on The Green at Dunchurch is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons: * A witness to the tragic impact of world events on this community, which supported and celebrated its construction * Its use of local materials and craftsmanship reflecting local vernacular building traditions of timber frame and thatch, which complements its surroundings * Group value with the numerous listed buildings and structures in the village centre around the shelter, especially the nearby C18 stocks and K6 telephone kiosk, also on The Green, forming a public focus for the conservation area

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, 17 January 2017.