Cricket pavilion memorial will be demolished

One of our readers, incensed by the plans to demolish the King’s School war memorial cricket pavilion writes:

Do I detect a skew of morals? Or no morals? Things have come to a pretty pass if the demolition of a War Memorial can even be considered.

The Memorial in danger is the Cricket Pavilion at the King’s School Westminster Road site, plainly visible through the Memorial gates, and erected, according to two conflicting dates in the developers’ commissioned Heritage Statement, either in 1929 or 1934. 

Designated a Memorial to those  King’s pupils who died in the Great War, whose names are recorded on a display board in the School Hall, it bears a lintel inscribed “In Memoriam 1914- 1918”.

The Heritage Statement purports to justify the removal of this building, stating that is is an “anachronism” stylistically,  and  a “minor structure with a redundant use”. The developers propose that the lintel will be “carefully dismantled” and “respectfully incorporated into a new low wall on the retained open space”. I posit that the entire building is the Memorial, not the lintel alone. Great Gable, in the Lake District, is the Memorial, not the plaque on its summit.

This Heritage Statement attempts to evade the indisputable fact that a War Memorial should be completely out of bounds when the wrecking ball is at hand. It is unnerving to read this stuff. No amount of explanation of the building’s architectural and heritage value can gloss over its intrinsic importance to the history of the town and school, and the respect we all surely owe to the memory of those who died. Goodness me, the centenary of this War is only just over! 

Now we shall take a glance at the planned new housing. Oho! this shows that the Pavilion is cumbersome, bulky, and set at an intrusive angle. It uses up valuable land. It blocks the way of a new back road proposed along the east side of the site. More properties than one are sited on its footprint. Enough said on that!

This flagrant lack of moral duty concerning this humble but significant little building merits severe reproach. No public petition is required to parley for the retention of this Memorial. I opine that the public understands the issues, which are indeed cosmic. British Values. Universal Values. The onus is on the school and the developers to consult their consciences. Destruction indicates a shocking disregard for the special status of a War Memorial in our collective consciousness. 

Memorials can be re-located. Yet when I asked the School management if this building were to be re-sited on their new campus, I was told there is no room! That absolutely beggars belief. Adaptation as a dwelling/ community building for the new development, or re-location are the only morally permissible options here.

I am certain that every right-minded person in the town and the country would agree. And if they do not, they are unworthy of the inheritance which the bravery of the fallen has bequeathed to us. Those who perished cannot speak. Are we to dismiss their silent entreaty? Shame upon us, if so.

Yours sincerely,

Sue Whitham

See: http://www.ilovemacc.com/2019/04/02/kings-school-housing-plans-challenged/

Since posting this item a number of readers have posted comments on Facebook:
“Criminal. More of Macclesfield’s Historic Character getting dumped on the scrap heap!”.
“Can’t it be moved ? I have arranged for the ww1 & 2 memorial from where I work to another building in Stafford where I will get a rededication ceremony”
“Lives were given in order that the present and future pupils of Kings could continue and enjoy their privileged lives. The place is sacred to their memory. Not just a piece of cold moveable stone. It would be complete sacrilege to their memory and to family and descendants who still hold onto their lost souls”