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From The Muniment Room, a resource for social history, family history, and local history.

The Stoneham War Shrine was restored in 2011 - see The Restoration of Stoneham War Shrine project website.

The two war shrines were erected in 1917 at North Stoneham and Havenstreet by John and Violet Willis Fleming.

The Shrines were built in memory of Mr & Mrs Willis Fleming's second son, 2nd Lieut. Richard Willis Fleming, who had been killed in action the previous year on the day after his twentieth birthday. The Shrines were dedicated in 1918, some four months before the end of the war, and gifted to the local parishes as memorials to the local men who had died for their country.

At a combined cost of £912^[1], the two Shrines were built to an identical design, and similarly positioned on the brows of low, prominent hills, in peaceful locations away from roads and other buildings. The Stoneham Shrine was sited in Avenue Park, part of the historic North Stoneham Park – an ornamental parkland laid out by 'Capability' Brown in the eighteenth century – and faced along a former chestnut avenue to St Nicolas Church. The memorial was constructed on a levelled rectangular area, some 55' x 40' (17 m x 12.5 m), enclosed by iron railings. A beech hedge was planted inside the fence on the three closed sides of the Shrine.

The Havenstreet Shrine was built on farmland overlooking the village of Havenstreet, with views across the Solent and Spithead.

There was a popular movement for building such shrines during the Great War, which was distinct from the parish and civic war memorials erected in the years after the war.^[2]

Local newspapers reported the occasion of the two Shrines' dedications in 1918, and described the structures:

"The building [at Havenstreet], which is built of stone from the Fleming quarries, consists of three compartments. In the centre is an altar and crucifix on either side of which have been temporarily fixed the names of those who have so nobly and heroically made the supreme sacrifice. The compartments on either side are intended for prayer, and are enclosed with oak doors, while the centre gate consists of handsome iron scroll work."^[3]

"The shrine [at Stoneham] is divided into three distinct divisions, the central and largest containing an oak altar and crucifix with vases of flowers, and two smaller ones to ensure privacy, having a pre-dieu and an aperture, through which the altar is visible."^[4]

Each Shrine – some 23' in length and 9' wide (7 m x 2.7 m) – was robustly constructed. The substantial walls were of Binstead/Quarr stone from the Isle of Wight, a cream-coloured limestone that for centuries had been prized for its hardness, and used throughout southern England for ecclesiastical buildings^[5]. A newspaper report from some forty years later, described the construction of the Shrine at Havenstreet:

"The shrine was not built hastily. The best craftsmen of the day were called in … A point of interest is that the shrine was the last building to be constructed of Binstead stone and two imported masons from Portland commented favourably on its quality."^[6]

All the timber parts, including the roof rafters, were of oak; the roofs were tiled with stone, and surmounted each end by ornate wrought iron crosses. The oak fascias on the front of both Shrines were carved with the inscription:

'BUT THEY ARE IN PEACE FOR GOD PROVED THEM AND FOUND THEM WORTHY FOR HIMSELF'

In early photographs of the Stoneham Shrine, these inscriptions appear to be picked out with paint or gilt.

The architect of the Shrines has yet to be identified. However, in 1920-21 lead wall tablets listing the roll of honour were added by the designer Eric Gill (1882-1940)^[7], and cast by Laurence Turner^[8]. [Did Gill and/or Turner also carve the inscriptions on the timber fascias?]

The Havenstreet Shrine was dedicated four and a half months before the Armistice, on Sunday 30 June 1918. An Order of Service sheet from the occasion survives^[9]. The Stoneham Shrine was dedicated one month later on 28 July 1918, at a solemn service conducted, too, by the Bishop of Southampton, and with the choirs of North Stoneham and Bassett present. Having dedicated the "singularly beautiful" Shrine, the Bishop prayed that it "might be a source of consolation to the bereaved, and that those so commemorated might find beyond the vale light, refreshment, and peace."

'He then explained the significance of the gift, and the important part in which it was hoped it might play in the life of North Stoneham …[The Shrine] was not only a calvary, it was a house of prayer, affording an opportunity to mourners for meditation and closer communion with those whom they had lost. It was still more – a sanctuary, and the altar might be licensed for the celebration of the sacred mysteries. … He felt sure that the Rector [the Rev. Thomas Salmon] would be glad to accede to the wishes of anyone who wished for a celebration at the altar in the shrine on the anniversary of the death of a friend. The memorial should be an inspiration to survivors to do their own part towards the victory that remained to be won.'^[10]

An additional, central inscription on the fascias of both Shrines dates from 1919 or later (the following is from the Stoneham Shrine):

'TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE DEARLY LOVED MEMORY OF THEIR SECOND SON RICHARD THOMAS CYRIL LIEUT. 1/1ST BATTERY HANTS R.H.A. BORN AUG 3RD 1896 KILLED IN ACTION AT THE BATTLE OF ROMANI EGYPT AUG 4TH 1916 AND TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE FROM THE PARISH OF NORTH STONEHAM WHO ALSO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919 THIS SHRINE IS DEDICATED BY JOHN & VIOLET WILLIS FLEMING OF STONEHAM PARK'^[11]

Lead tablets were added in 1920 and 1921, paid for by the Willis Fleming family, and costing £137 (Havenstreet) and £124 (Stoneham)^[12]. The roll of honour at the Stoneham Shrine listed the names of thirty-two fallen soldiers^[13]. Each panel was headed with the commemorative words, evocative of that era:

'PRAY FOR THE SOULS OF THESE GALLANT MEN'

Subsequent history

For many years fresh flowers continued to be placed on the altars of the Shrines, and Sunday School children taken there to pray. An annual Easter day service was held at the Stoneham Shrine, and the congregation of St Nicolas would regularly process from the church to the Shrine with a processional crucifix and banner.

It seems that no provision was made for the maintenance of either Shrine after the Fleming Estate land auctions of 1953 and 1956. By the 1960s, both Shrines were in a poor condition. (It should also be noted that there had always been mixed feelings towards war shrines in general, and some dissent.^[14]) After 1947, no members of the Willis Fleming family lived in the North Stoneham area.

In 1962, the Havenstreet Shrine was "in a bad state, time and vandals having played their parts"^[15], but was then restored by Brigadier John B P Willis Fleming when he came to live on the Island at that time. For some years the Shrine was maintained by the local branch of the British Legion^[16].

Some time before 1967, the lead tablets from the Stoneham Shrine were removed, informally, to the porch of St Nicolas church^[17]. For many years the Stoneham Shrine was aggressively vandalised. By 1986, it was "unroofed and derelict"^[18]. A photograph from this time shows the site of the Shrine to be overgrown^[19]. Avenue Park was by then in a rundown condition with a BMX track, and was used for unauthorised activities such as motorcycle scrambling. All the decorative ironwork from the Shrine had long since vanished. The inscribed front oak fascia, after being damaged in a fire, was incorporated as a load-bearing lintel inside a local house.

In recognition that Avenue Park was part of an important Lancelot Brown landscape, Eastleigh Borough Council embarked on a restoration of the area in 1999, funded by a Section 106 Planning Agreement. Works included the clearing of the site of the Shrine.

Today only the ruined walls and floor of the Stoneham Shrine remain, surrounded by the former beech hedge, now grown into a stand of mature trees. By contrast, the Havenstreet Shrine survives in near-original condition.

Avenue Park is owned by Eastleigh Borough Council, and is registered on the Historic Parks and Gardens Register for Hampshire.

In 2005 it was proposed to partially restore the Stoneham Shrine, based on the recognition that the Shrine is an important, forgotten memorial. This was prompted by the formation of The Willis Fleming Historical Trust, and by Eastleigh Borough Council's desire to continue to improve Avenue Park as an amenity for local people.

Notes

1. ↑ Fleming Unsettled Estate Payments Account’ 1911-33, folio 2. This confirms the year of construction for both Shrines as 1917
2. ↑ The first war shrine was built in 1916 in South Hackney, London; the subsequent movement was prompted by a series of articles in the London Evening News in October 1916, and by the support of Selfridge’s department store. Such shrines, some makeshift, were often sited away from the usual places of worship, and were most common on town and city streets. There is information about the practice of erecting war shrines during WW1 in: Bertram S. Puckle, Funeral Customs, Their Origin and Development (London, 1926); Connelly, ‘War Shrines: The Origins of the War Memorials Movement’, Great War: Memory and Ritual (2002). “Not content with the ‘roll of honour’ which might reasonably be disassociated from any charge of worship, these ‘shrines’ as they are commonly called … are to be found as a rule outside a place of Protestant worship, where they have been erected by loving hands.” (Puckle, 1926)
3. ↑ The Isle of Wight County Press, 6 July 1918
4. ↑ Eastleigh Weekly News, 2 August 1918
5. ↑ Kelly's Directory (1931, 1935): 'A shrine [at North Stoneham] built of Binstead quarry stone, which was used in the construction of the church, was erected by John E A Willis Fleming esq ...'
6. ↑ Clipping from The Isle of Wight County Press, undated, but circa 1965; Isle of Wight Record Office, ref. ARR/38
7. ↑ Pevsner & Lloyd, The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (1967). Gill designed many such memorial tablets, as well as complete war memorials, and he is known to have taken these projects very seriously. Gill’s diaries, which are useful for attributing works, are held by the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in Los Angeles; they have yet to be consulted.
8. ↑ Laurence A Turner was a prolific sculptor/caster in metal, plaster and wood, whose later work included the 1930 Memorial to the Missing at Pozières, Somme. He was born in 1864 at Wootton under Edge, Gloucestershire. He was a Master of the ARIBA, and President of the Art Workers’ Guild. In 1921 Turner lived at 42 Lambs Conduit Street, London WC1. (Source: Questionnaire by Kineton Parkes, Victoria & Albert Museum).
9. ↑ Order of Service for the Dedication of the War Shrine’, 30 Jun 1918
10. ↑ Southern Daily Echo, 30 July 1918
11. ↑ The fascia inscription of the Havenstreet Shrine reads: ‘... AND TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE FROM THE PARISHES OF BINSTEAD AND HAVENSTREET WHO ALSO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919 THIS SHRINE IS DEDICATED BY JOHN & VIOLET WILLIS FLEMING OF BINSTEAD HOUSE’
12. ↑ ‘Estate Accounts 1920’; ‘Estate Accounts 1921’
13. ↑ The names are: Ernest H. Furley, Arthur Gannaway, George F. Gates, Frank Gilliam, Arthur Goodall, Harold Hallett, Jack Hallett, Robert P. Hankinson, Richard Harding, Alexander J. Harvey, Arthur Jaques, Joseph H. Jaques, Roland H. Jones, Walter L.S. Guëret Jones, Arthur F. Knott, Richard Leckblade, Ernest Lewis, George S. Longster, Fred Pack, Henry Peerman, Albert Richards, Ernest W. Richards, Frederick Richards, Ernest Rigby, William C. Rogers, Frederick G. Rowe, Harold Rowe, James Scott, William Stevens, Ronald Weston, Richard T.C.W. Fleming, and Arthur F. Wolfe. Preliminary research about these men was undertaken by Andrew Brooks in 2005.
14. ↑ Following the desecration of a street war shrine in Ilford in 1916, a correspondent to the Recorder wrote in favour of the action against “those who are in love with papal superstitions”; Connelly, Great War: Memory and Ritual (2002), p.32
15. ↑ Clipping from The Isle of Wight County Press, undated, but circa 1965; Isle of Wight Record Office, ref. ARR/38
16. ↑ Letter from Martin P Lowry to Kenneth Loughnan, concerning the maintenance of the Havenstreet Shrine, 31 Dec 1985
17. ↑ Pevsner & Lloyd, The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (1967). There appears to be no record of a faculty being obtained for the addition of the tablets to St Nicolas church. The pair of tablets are currently erected in the wrong order. St Nicolas was listed Grade II* in 1953. The tablets are registered in the UK Inventory of War Memorials, ref. 49768.
18. ↑ Letter from Dr David Tew to Anne Bakes, 20 Nov 1986
19. ↑ 35mm transparencies of North Stoneham parish, taken/compiled by Anne Bakes