Full Report for Listed Buildings


The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.

Summary Description


Reference Number
20202
Building Number
 
Grade
II*  
Status
Designated  
Date of Designation
29/07/1998  
Date of Amendment
29/07/1998  
Name of Property
War Memorial  
Address
 

Location


Unitary Authority
Wrexham  
Community
Chirk  
Town
Wrexham  
Locality
Chirk  
Easting
329051  
Northing
337755  
Street Side
 
Location
The war memorial is set on a traffic island at the junction of Station Avenue with Church Street, near the centre of Chirk  

Description


Broad Class
Commemorative  
Period
 

History
The memorial was designed by the noted designer and sculptor Eric Gill and set up in 1919-1920 after the Great War, commissioned by Lord Howard de Walden of Chirk Castle. A further inscription was added after 1945.  

Exterior
A simple tapered square obelisk of Portland Stone set on a round nosed low step, the riser curved back. The top of the obelisk is gabled at 45 degrees on each angle. On the S face there is a bas-relief hunched figure of a great-coated and helmeted soldier, holding his rifle and bayonet. Below, an elegantly lettered inscription to the 'habitants & indwellers of the parish of Chirk' who died in the conflict of 1914-1919. On the sides, the names of 66 men, also carved in bold Roman capitals. On the rear, the inscription in Welsh to 'Wyr y Waun'. Below the names of 19 men killed in the 1939-1945 war have been added. Around the monument and below the inscriptions, cut in larger capitals, the further, slightly plaintive, inscription 'AND IN RIGHTEOUNESS HE DOTH JUDGE & MAKE WAR REV.XIX'  

Interior
 

Reason for designation
Included at II* as a remarkable war memorial by a pre-eminent British sculptor and designer, where great dignity has been achieved by the austerity of the form, the pathos of the figured relief and the spare elegance of the lettering. A monument occupying a prominent position in the Chirk conservation area.  

Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]



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