Kettering Cenotaph is a Grade II listed building in the North Northamptonshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 June 2015. Memorial. 2 related planning applications.
Kettering Cenotaph
- WRENN ID
- pitched-wall-ash
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- North Northamptonshire
- Constituency
- Kettering MP: Rosie Wrighting (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 9 June 2015
- Type
- Memorial
- Address
- Kettering Cenotaph, Sheep Street, Kettering Town, NN16 0AN
- OS grid reference
- SP 866 783
- Coordinates
- 52.39595, -0.72759
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Kettering Cenotaph is a First World War memorial, adapted from Lutyens' Whitehall Cenotaph, situated in a small courtyard at the entrance to the Alfred East Art Gallery, bordering the Manor House Gardens. Constructed around the time that area was central Kettering, the memorial stands approximately 8 metres high and is built from limestone, likely Weldon stone, similar to that of the Alfred East Gallery. It features a tapering pylon buttressed at the corners by clasping piers, which widen into the lower section. An oversailing cornice runs around the top, above which sits a simple, block-like stone representing an empty tomb.
A two-stage stepped base provides a ledge for wreath laying. The front face, which looks onto Sheep Street, bears the inscription ‘IN MEMORY OF/ THOSE WHO/ GAVE THEIR LIVES/ IN THE/ GREAT WAR/ 1914-1919’ in raised lettering, with a carved ribbon and wreath below. A later stone has been inserted carrying the wording ‘FOR THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES/ IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR/ 1939-1945/ AND SUBSEQUENT CONFLICTS’. The right and left faces are inscribed ‘OUR/ GLORIOUS/ DEAD’, while the rear face reads ‘THEIR NAME/ LIVETH/ FOR/ EVERMORE’. Identical ribbon wreaths are carved on all three visible faces.
Local climate
Kettering Cenotaph sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 86% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 50% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2016
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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