Memorial

Obelisk 1914-18 The Avenue

Greencroft

Memorial Name: Obelisk 1914-18 The Avenue (G54.01)

NEWMP Ref No.: G54.01

Parish: Greencroft

Original Location:

The Avenue, in the centre of a grassed roundabout in a quiet cul-de-sac.

Which War:

1914-18

Dedication, Creation or Publication date:

Unveiled 22nd May 1920 by Mr. Utrick Ritson.

Materials Used:

Polished grey granite

Sculptor, Artist or Designer:

W. Ayton & Sons, Blackhill.

Inscription:

Front Main Panel
Erected
by the owners
officials and workmen
of South Pontop Colliery
in memory of
our village comrades
who fell in
the Great War
1914 – 1918.

Base:
“The blood of heroes
is the seed of freedom”.

Memorial Description:

Obelisk, approx. 15 feet high (4.6m), with an ornate three-tiered pedestal.

Each panel has an outer border and at the pinnacle to each side of the obelisk is an engraved pattern similar to a “fleur de lys”.

The dedication is on the front face, the names are on the two sides of the base of the pedestal.

The quotation is carried on the front face of the top step.

All of the lettering is incised and gilded using sans serif capitals.

Names:

17 full names.
See transcript.

Notes:

1. “This war memorial is situated in New Greencroft about one hundred and fifty yards south west of the site of South Pontop Colliery. It takes the form of an obelisk of white granite standing on an ornamental square base in the centre of a low circular grass mound with surrounds of stone kerbing on which was originally iron palisading with a privet hedge inside.”

2. The site was “in the centre of the proposed garden city building site at South Pontop”.

3. Mr. Ritson was thanked by Cllr. J. Watt, a former serviceman, for treating the men fairly and giving them their jobs back on the return. He spoke on behalf of the Discharged and Demobilised Soldiers and Sailors.

4. Mrs. Ritson handed out to every colliery employee an illuminated book containing the details of men who had signed up from the firm’s Burnhope, Preston and South Pontop Collieries.

5. Ten of the 17 men on the memorial are listed in the Ritson’s Roll of Honour. The other 7 lived in the village but worked elsewhere.

6. All seventeen names are on the Annfield Plain cenotaph A.38.01

External Links:

Historic England Listing

Sources:

Photos: Simon Raine; John and Mavis Dixon; Dorothy Hall; C. Sanders

Chester le Street Chronicle
27/05/1920 reports unveiling.

Consett Guardian
28/05/1920 reports unveiling.

Durham County Advertiser
20/05/1920 reports unveiling.

Illustrated Chronicle
24/05/1920 reports unveiling.

Durham County Council
ref 505/1/11/8 The Story of Annfield Plain and District by F J Wade contains the passage quoted in Note 1 above.

Source of quotation:
“The blood of heroes . . .” : Thomas Campbell 1777-1844. “The patriot’s blood is the seed of freedom’s tree”.

Sources Link: Illustrated Chronicle 05 24 Mon -1920

Sources Link: Consett Guardian 05 28 Fri -1920

Additional Research Documents

Research Acknowledgements:

Errol Broomfield;
on Carson;
Fitzhugh Collection, Middleton in Teesdale;
John and Mavis Dixon;
Durham County Council;
Jennifer Britton;
Dorothy Hall;
C. Sanders;
Pauline Priano