War Memorial

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OLD BUCKENHAM War Memorial

14-JUL-10

II

War memorial. 1919. By Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Description: Ashlar with bronze cross. The memorial is similar to a wayside cross and stands on the village green. An octagonal plinth consisting of three irregular steps and a taller pedestal supports a tall octagonal shaft with cross summit to which is fixed a bronze sword. On the plinth are various inscription panels recording the names of the Fallen in the First World War with also, added later, the names of those Fallen in the Second World War.The memorial is unusual in being the gift of a single donor, Lionel Robinson of Old Buckenham Hall who was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1916.

The design is Blomfield's well-known 'Cross of Sacrifice' and it was used in all the Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries and as a memorial in many places both in Britain and the Empire. It was designed to be able to be constructed in four sizes without detriment to the effect. Blomfield was, with Lutyens and Herbert Baker, a principal architect for the Commission and in the years after the First World War designed many monuments and memorials both for the Commission, other bodies, and as this case, for private clients. The design was very carefully considered and Blomfield wrote in his Memoirs: 'What I wanted to do in designing this Cross was to make it as abstract and impersonal as I could, to free it from any association with any particular style, and, above all, to keep clear of any of the sentimentalities of Gothic. This was a man's war far too terrible for any fripperies, and I hoped to get within range of the infinite in this symbol of the ideals of those who had gone out to die.'

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: This memorial is unusual in being the gift of a single donor, Lionel Robinson of Old Buckenham Hall who was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1916. The design is Blomfield's well-known 'Cross of Sacrifice' used in all the Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries and as a memorial in many places both in Britain and the Empire.

Source. Richard A. Fellows, Sir Reginald Blomfield, 1985, p.103-9 and 174.

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, 4 September 2017.