War Memorial Shelters is a Grade II listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 4 August 2014. Shelter.

War Memorial Shelters

WRENN ID
sunken-cupola-sorrel
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Westminster
Constituency
Kensington and Bayswater MP: Joe Powell (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
4 August 2014
Type
Shelter
OS grid reference
TQ 260 800
Coordinates
51.50547, -0.18553
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The War Memorial Shelters are a pair of commemorative structures built in 1919 to honor those who served in the First World War. They are timber framed with timber cladding and roof shingles, and are rectangular in shape, located 100 meters apart along the Broadwalk in Kensington Gardens.

The shelters feature a simple construction with four upright corner posts and cross braces that support a deeply overhanging roof. The ends of the shelters have matchboarding, which also extends across the middle to create backs for the seats that have since been removed. Above the matchboarding, there is a low timber screen that holds commemorative panels on either side. One shelter bears the inscription ‘IN MEMORY OF OUR SAILORS / WHO UPHELD “BRITAIN’S SURE SHIELD” / 1914-1918’, while the other reads ‘IN MEMORY OF OUR SOLDIERS / WHO FOUGHT IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1918’. Both shelters are inscribed ‘ERECTED BY / “THE SILVER THIMBLE FUND” / 1919’. The roofs are hipped and covered with timber shingles.

Local climate

War Memorial Shelters sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 51% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 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.

More on this building

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