Their Names Liveth for Evermore: First World War Memorialisation in South East Wales
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GGAT 137: Their Names Liveth for Evermore: First World War memorialisation in South East Wales March 2019 A report for Cadw GGAT report no. 2019/006 by Johnny Crawford BSc MA ACIfA Project no. GGAT 137 The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd Heathfield House Heathfield Swansea SA1 6EL GGAT 137: Their Names Liveth for Evermore: First World War memorialisation in South East Wales SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Copyright Notice ............................................................................................................................................ 3 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Project Background ............................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Their Names Liveth for Evermore ................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Objectives .................................................................................................................................................. 5 2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 6 Identified tasks ............................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Scoring System ........................................................................................................................................ 7 3. DEFINITIONS AND SOURCES CONSULTED ............................................................................ 10 3.1 Definition of what constitutes a memorial ................................................................................ 10 3.2 Sources of information ...................................................................................................................... 11 4. RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................ 13 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 26 APPENDIX I. GAZETTEER OF SITES ............................................................................... 27 Figures Figure 1. Location plan for all the sites identifies as part of the study. ........................................ 9 Plates Plate 1. The Welsh National War Memorial in Cathays Park, Cardiff (PRN 00957s/NPRN 32845, Commons media image). The genesis of the idea of a Welsh national memorial came during the First World War itself, and the memorial continues to serve as a national monument for the Welsh platform for major commemorative events. ............................... 14 Plate 2. Ebbw Vale civic war memorial (NPRN 309868). The monument manages to evoke a sense of the sacred and the space has been used for contemporary commemorative installations that keep the site modern and relevant. .......................................................... 15 Plate 3. The war memorial at Llantillio Crossenny (PRN01304g) re-used the base of the churchyard’s medieval cross. This is one of a number of similar monuments within Glamorgan and Gwent (GGAT). ......................................................................................... 16 Plate 4. The war memorial at Christchurch, Newport (NL43). Although constructed after the First World War, there is a clear attempt at modelling the memorial on medieval church and market crosses (GGAT). .............................................................................................. 16 Plate 5. Syndicate memorial located with the civic memorial in Ebbw Vale (NPRN 309868). The reference to Wesleyans suggests it may have come from a demolished chapel. This is one of four that have been re-located to the site of the civic memorial. ............................ 18 Plate 6. Roll of Honour from Memorial Baptist Church, Swansea, now held in West Glamorgan Archives. This is typical of ‘Syndicate’ memorials but which may no longer be located within the original buildings (West Glamorgan Archive). .................................................. 19 Plate 7. Memorial (NL41) to 2nd Lt Seager in Cardiff Royal Infirmary. Since the closure of the hospital, the fate of the plaque is unclear (IMW). .............................................................. 20 Plate 8. Memorial inscription within the Lych gate of St Cadoc’s Church Caerleon (NL13, 1 GGAT 137: Their Names Liveth for Evermore: First World War memorialisation in South East Wales LB26117). The gate and plaque straddles the boundary between functional and syndicate memorials (GGAT). ............................................................................................................ 21 Plate 9. Memorial gates at the entrance to Abertillery Hospital (11048g/408537). Notwithstanding their use as an active site for commemoration, these gates are in a poor state of repair (see below), in common with a number of functional memorials. .............. 22 Plate 10. One of the memorial gates to Abertillery Hospital (11048g/408537). Note the poor state of the iron work. ......................................................................................................... 22 Plate 11. Probably the most poignant civic memorial within Glamorgan and Gwent. The Troedrhiwfuwch memorial (NL16) remembers men lost from a community that no longer exists. Rather the memorial has itself become something of a leitmotif for the original community, in a reversal of the usual order of commemoration. ....................................... 23 2 GGAT 137: Their Names Liveth for Evermore: First World War memorialisation in South East Wales SUMMARY This project has been undertaken as part of the commemoration and thematic investigation of the physical legacy of the First World War on South East Wales. Data from Swansea University’s Living Legacies project and the War Memorials Database, together with a number of other sources have been trawled for information relating to a variety of war memorials located within Glamorgan and Gwent. This has resulted in enhancement of the regional Historic Environment Record (HER) and permitted a digital mapping exercise to be carried out. Close analysis of 200 memorials within Glamorgan and Gwent has resulted in the identification of a number of categories of monument, with an assessment of risk being made for each monument. This process has resulted in the identification of a number of different types of memorial, categories that include ‘National’, ‘Civic and Community’, ‘Syndicate’ and ‘Functional’ memorials. The study demonstrates that ‘Functional’ monuments i.e. halls, gates and hospitals are at greatest risk, with ‘Syndicate’ memorials, a term used for this project to describe memorials produced by congregations and employers, are also at high risk of loss. In contrast, conventional, ‘Civic and Community’ memorials are least at risk due to the perceived inviolability of the structures, coupled with a renewed interest in the memorials themselves engendered by the centenary of the First World War. 155 war memorials will be added to the Regional Historic Environment Record as a result of the project. Acknowledgements The project was grant-aided by Cadw and undertaken by the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT) in their remit as a regional archaeological body responsible for the understanding and preservation of the archaeological resource in southeast Wales. The Author would like to thank Dr Gethin Matthews and Swansea University for making their dataset available, as well as staff of the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (RCAHMW), Gwent, Glamorgan and West Glamorgan Archives. The report and fieldwork was undertaken by was prepared by Johnny Crawford BSc MA ACIfA. The illustration for the project was prepared by Paul Jones (GGAT). The report was reviewed by Andrew Marvell BA, MCIfA. Copyright Notice The copyright of this report is held by Cadw and the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd. Photographs are GGAT copyright unless otherwise credited. The maps are based on Ordnance Survey mapping provided by the National Assembly for Wales with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence No: 1000017916 (2018). 3 GGAT 137: Their Names Liveth for Evermore: First World War memorialisation in South East Wales 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Background The physical impact of the First World War on the home front, and therefore the archaeological legacy, has been an area of increased interest in recent years, primarily spurred by the centenary of the start and end of the war. Cadw commissioned a scoping study in 2013 to establish a baseline of information concerning the survival of archaeological sites in South East Wales relating to the First World War period (Crawford 2014). The results of this study highlighted several significant strands that have been developed by the Welsh Archaeological