Billericay War Memorial

BASILDON, HIGH STREET, Billericay War Memorial

GV II

War Memorial. 1921 WWI memorial with 1957 addition of WWII memorial. WWI memorial comprises a Portland stone rectangular plan shaft with entasis. To north face at bottom a panel reads 'To the glory of God and sacred to the memory of the men from this district who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-18', below a carved wreath. Shaft is capped with a stone Patee cross within a circle. This all rests on a tapered concrete plinth of square plan, each side carrying the names of the 62 WWI dead. WWII memorial is separate and to the south. This comprises a series of low walls of red brick in English bond under stone coping. The taller wall to the back has a recessed stone panel carrying the names of the 54 WWII dead. To the front of this to both sides are U-shaped walls facing inwards, altogether the ensemble appears to embrace the earlier memorial. HISTORY: Unveiled 16 October 1921 by Major General Sir William Thwaites K.C.M.G., C.B. with a Guard of Honour of 40 ex-servicemen under R.S.M. J.W. Wheatley, and dedicated by Rev. SL. Brown, Rural Dean. The additional memorial to the WWII dead was added in 1957, unveiled by Lt.-Col. A.C. Newman. V.C., O.B.E., T.D., D.L.

Group Value with Church of St. Mary Magdalen (q.v.) and the listed buildings to High Street and Chapel Street.

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, 12 January 2017.