
Memorial details
- Memorial type
- Obelisk
- District
- Calderdale
- Town
- Pecket Well
- County
- West Yorkshire
- Country
- England
- Commemoration
- Second World War (1939-1945), First World War (1914-1918)
- Ceremony
- Dedicated
Date: 23 September 1923
Attended by: Reverend J Barnett performed the dedication of the WW1 memorial - Dedicated
Date: 07 November 1948
Attended by: Reverend F Edmundson dedicated the WW2 tablet on the memorial - Unveiled
Date: 07 November 1948
Attended by: Councillor R.P. Hope (Chairman of the Parish Council) unveiled the WW2 tablet on the memorial - Unveiled
Date: 23rd September 1923
Attended by: Major R.H. Barker (MP for Sowerby) performed the unveiling of the memorial - Show More (3)
- Dedicated
- Lost
- Not lost
- WM Reference
- 2611
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Current location
On top of Smeaking Hill
overlooking Crimsworth Dene and valley of Hebden Water
Smeaking Hill
Pecket Well
Calderdale
West Yorkshire
HX7 7AQ
England
OS Grid Ref: SD 99200 29100
Denomination: Undefined
- Description
- Large four-sided stone obelisk of rusticated gritstone, surmounting a square plinth that bears four tablets with incised inscription The whole stands in morrland. .
- Inscription
- PARISH OF WADSWORTH/ TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF THIS PARISH WHO/ GAVE ALL AND IN GRATITUDE/ TO THOSE WHO OFFERED ALL/ FOR THE SACRED CAUSE/ OF WORLD PEACE/ IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914-1918/ (Names)/ 1939-1945/ (Names)
- Inscription legible?
- yes
- Names on memorial
- Adams, George
Ashworth, Thomas R
Ashworth, Willie
Bush, P C
Butler, Ben
Clay, Vernon H
Crabtree, John
Davies, Victor W
Dewhirst, Henry Wm
Fleming, Walter
See details for all 40 names - Commemorations
- Second World War (1939-1945)
Total names on memorial: 6
Served and returned: 0
Died: 6
Exact count: yes
Information shown: Forename, surname
Order of information: Listed alphabetically by surname - First World War (1914-1918)
Total names on memorial: 34
Served and returned: 0
Died: 34
Exact count: yes
Information shown: Forename, surname
Order of information: Listed alphabetically by surname, on two tablets
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Components
- Obelisk
Measurements: depth 3050mm, height 12350mm, width 3050mm
Materials: Stone
- Obelisk
- Listing information
- This memorial is not currently listed. Find out how to nominate this memorial for inclusion on the National Heritage List for England
- More about listing and the protection of historic places can be found on the Historic England website
- Condition
- Wadsworth
- WMO ID: 195924
- Condition: Poor [last updated on 11-09-2019]
- Help update these details if the condition is wrong
- History
- On 9/9/2019 the memorial was Grade II Listed by Historic England./ In 2015 the War Memorials Trust listed the memorial as being in poor condition, commenting 'WMT aware and considering works'.
- Costs
Site: Free
Comments: The cost of erecting the monument at Smeaking Hill was £624, raised entirely by voluntary subscriptions. The land surrounding the memorial was given by Mr. Wear, of Crimsworth Farm, a Bradford businessman. (The deeds relating to the conveyance of the land were 'handed over by Mr. Wear to the Parish Council')./ The cost of adding the names of the WW2 casualties in 1948 was £20.
Memorial: £624- Trust fund/Scholarship
- No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A - Sponsorship
- Public
- Responsibility
- Wadsworth Parish Council
- Reference
- Hornshaw and Fowler, Calderdale War Dead, published privately in 1995, their memorial 628
- Historic England's listing of the memorial on 8/9/2019, and the reasons for it, can be found at historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1464951
- Halifax Evening Courier Monday 8/11/1948: 'AT Smeaking Hill, Wadsworth. an additional tablet has recently been added to the parish memorial, erected after the first world war. The names of six local men who fell in the last war have been inscribed on the new tablet, which was unveiled and dedicated at a service yesterday afternoon, attended by residents and public representatives in the parish, and by members of the British Legion, Coun. R. P. Hope, Chairman of the Parish Council, presided and unveiled the tablet. The Rev. A. C. Durrant also took part, and the dedication address was given by the Rev. P. Edmondson. The singing was led by a combined choir, in charge of Mrs. R. Ashworth. Wreaths were laid by representatives of the various organisations'. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19481108/049/0002
- Halifax Evening Courier 17/2/1948: Report of Council meeting at which mention was made that: 'After it had been reported that the estimated cost of erecting an additional stone slab on the war memorial at Smeaking Hill, and adding the names of those who fell in the last war, was over £2O. it was decided to open a subscription list'. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19480217/179/0004
- Halifax Evening Courier 17/8/1948: 'Wadsworth plans for war memorial tablet. At the monthly meeting of the Wadsworth Parish Council last night, further plans were made for the unveiling of the additional tablet, to be inserted in the War Memorial on Smeaking Hill. Arrangements were made for the repair and painting of seats and bridges under the control of the Council'. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19480817/039/0002
- The Yorkshire Pot and Leeds Intelligencer 22/8/1924 reported: "WADSWORTH WAR MEMORIAL. A final report prepared by the War Memorial Committee at Wadsworth, near Hebden Bridge, shows the cost of erecting the monument at Smeaking Hill to have been £624, the whole of the money having been raised by voluntary subscriptions. The land surrounding the memorial was given by Mr. Wear, of Crimsworth Farm, a Bradford businessman. The deeds relating to the conveyance of the land have been handed over by Mr. Wear to the Parish Council. A roll of honour for the district is to be placed the Council Room".
- The War Memorials Trust's record of this memorial can be found at www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/195924/
- Halifax Evening Courier 23/3/1948: 'It was reported that between £4 and £5 had been subscribed to the Wadsworth War Memorial Fund, and the meeting agreed to organise a house-to-house collection, despite a statement made that permission will probably be given for the costs of such memorials to be met out of rates'. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19480323/068/0004
- The Halifax Evening Courier on 18/11/1947 reported: 'Parish Memorial. It was reported that, so far as is known, six names are to be added to the Wadsworth War Memorial - D. K. Greenwood, F. Robertshaw, G. Adams, J. Crabtree, J. Shepherd and T. Murgatroyd. Coun. K. Greenwood hoped the Council would consider holding a service at which the further tablet could be unveiled and dedicated, and suggested a date in August, about the anniversary day of the dedication of the memorial on Smeaking Hill'. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19471118/027/0002
- The Halifax Evening Courier, on Monday 24/9/1923, printed a long and detailed report of the unveiling of the memorial, opening: 'A BEACON MONUMENT. Wadsworth's War Memorial. Impressive Unveiling Ceremony. Built by public subscription on Smeaking Hill the memorial which has been raised to the memory of the lads from Wadsworth township who fell in the war takes the form of an obelisk 41ft. 2in. high. Designed by Mr. D Parker, local surveyor, it is in style similar to Stoodly Pike. Calder Valley stone has been used, the work having been carried out by the firm of Mr. Oldfleld Watson, Hebden Bridge. The unveiling and dedication of the memorial took place on Sunday afternoon in the presence of a crowd which, in numbers, will probably rank as the biggest ever seen in the district. Residents from all parts of the scattered township swarmed onto this prominent windswept eminence, which, with the newly constructed monument stands like a sentinel amidst the rugged Calderdale hills. There is a fine appropriateness about the type of memorial chosen for the district, and for generations it will stand out as a noted landmark and a lasting and silent tribute to the fallen. The ceremony was wonderfully impressive. In addition to the big crowd on Smeaking Hill itself groups of people were assembled on the surrounding points of vantage. Headed by Hebden Bridge band, a procession marched from Old Town Green to the memorial site. Joining the ranks were the scholars and worshippers from all the places of worship in the parish, a group of ex-servicemen, members of the Parish Council and members of the War Memorial Committee and prominent local residents. Rev. J. Fielding, chairman of the Memorial Committee, presided'. The report included a transcript of the speech given by Major R.H. Barker before he unveiled the memorial; Reverend J.B. Foster pronounced the Benediction. The report also stated that: 'The Chairman [of the War Memorial Committee] formally handed over the monument, the ground generously given by Mr. Wear, and probably, he said, the surrounding land, to the care and keeping of the Parish Council for all time. It was accepted by Mr. C. H. Bricknell, Chairman of the Parish Council'. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003295/19230924/033/0003#
This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.
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© WMR-2611
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