Memorial Centenary Booklet 15 August 2026

Castle Hill War Memorial Mountsorrel Centenary 15th August 1926 – 15th August 2026

Contents Foreword - Cllr Megan Pirt, Chair Mountsorrel Parish Council The Village and World War 1 A Memorial is planned Building the Memorial Dedication Service 1926 The Roll of Honour 1914 – 1918 The village and World War 2 Roll of Honour 1939 - 1945 Centenary Events 2026 Names of those not listed on Castle Hill Memorial Other Memorials in the village.

End word

Foreword Cllr Megan Pirt, Chair, Mountsorrel Parish Council No element of our shared heritage carries greater poignancy than our war memorials. Found in communities throughout the land, they bind the immense tragedy of the world wars to the lives of local people. Every community sent its sons and daughters to serve and to labour, almost all endured loss. The death of 1.1 million men and women of the British Empire created a profound and enduring need for places of remembrance.

Mountsorrel was one such community. United in purpose, its people created the memorial we see today—imposing in its simplicity—standing above the village, greeting the rising sun.

Erected on an historic site and fashioned from granite quarried here for centuries, the memorial endures as a tribute not only to those from Mountsorrel who made the ultimate sacrifice, but also to all who have served, and those who continue to serve.

For a hundred years, the memorial has stood as a symbol of remembrance, courage, and sacrifice. It reminds us not only of lives lost in war, but of the enduring values of unity, service, and community.

War memorials such as ours were not built out of necessity, but out of principles far deeper than necessity alone. Their true significance lies within the communities that created them—communities such as ours who, a century on, continue to care for them, gather around them in quiet respect, and lay wreaths in remembrance.

We will remember them.

Megan Pirt

The Village and WW1 Mountsorrel at the outset of World War 1 in 1914 was a much more compact village than today, with a population of approximately 2700 people. The village stretched out along the London to Carlisle road, and this was where most of the villagers lived and where many of the businesses were situated. New houses were just starting to be built along the then new Hawcliffe Road in the North End and along Danvers Road and Union Lane (now Linkfield Road) in the South End.

Ordnance Survey 1 inch “Popular” Series Sheet 63 3rd Revision 1916-1918

With very few people owning their own house families often rented in the same street or yard as other family members. Overcrowding in these three or possibly four room cottages was common, as many families had large numbers of children and often took in elderly relatives who were unable to work, or lodgers, to help with the household expenses.

Children started school at five years old and went either to Christ Church elementary school on Rothley Road or to St. Peter’s elementary school in Watling Street. Classes would be mixed age-groups and there would

often be over forty children in each class. Pupils remained at school until the age of twelve and although a few went on to secondary schools such as the grammar schools in Quorn or Barrow, most left school and began work.

Many houses were small cottages situated in yards which opened from narrow alleyways leading from the Main Street. These cottages were clustered around a central courtyard, often with only a shared pump or well as the only source of water. Similarly, the yards shared one or perhaps two, outside earth closet toilets.

Most of the working population were employed at the local granite quarries owned by the Mountsorrel Granite Co. and run by the Martin family who then lived at The Poplars on Watling St. The family had a long connection with the village and were actively involved in many aspects of village life.

Almost every family in Mountsorrel had at least one member working at the quarry, with many having several generations employed there. Those not employed at the quarries worked mainly for the several hosiery or shoe factories that had started up in the late 19th century. These newer industries generated secondary businesses such as the leatherboard mill and the box factory. Workers were mainly men or single women, and it wasn’t until labour shortages caused by the war became acute that married women also took on work outside the home.

With strong sources of employment, the village was effectively selfsufficient with businesses providing the necessities for the everyday life in that era. For example, the blacksmith who provided not only horseshoes, but metal implements for farming and gardening, and a saddlery making harnesses for working and hunting horses. There were several builders, painters, joiners (who also acted as undertakers), plumbers, coal merchants, and even a chimney sweep. Several bakers and butchers vied for business along with greengrocers and the Mountsorrel Co-op.

Although self-sufficient the village had never been inward looking with quarrymen in particular travelling not simply across the country but the

world when work slackened at home. Many had served in the armed forces oversees, some were still Royal Navy or Regular Army, reservists or were members of the Territorial Army. Even so the declaration of war in 1914 must have served as a shock to all.

When that declaration was made the village Territorials, members of F Company, 5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, were away near Bridlington attending their annual training camp. Hurriedly returned by train the same night their mobilisation orders called for them to be ready to move to their initial war station in seven days’ time. As they prepared to move to the Western Front their numbers were increased by more volunteers. Whilst the Territorials were preparing the Regular Reservists rejoined their ships and regiments and within weeks some were in action.

The sudden loss men from the village will have been dramatic for the families but it also had a major effect on businesses. With key workers away production at the quarries fell dramatically and other trades were similarly affected. In the case of the quarry, it was not just the absence of workers that was felt as three Directors were Territorial Army officers and a fourth was a Regular Army officer and a retired former company secretary returned to help manage the company.

Whilst many of those mobilised will have gone off with thoughts of adventure the reality of war soon struck home as by Christmas 1914 four of the village regular army reservists had been killed in action. Many more were to follow over the long years of the war.

In addition to keeping their families going and in many cases scraping by with reduced income and supporting friends who were suddenly widowed the women of the village also did their bit in direct support of the forces. Before the war many had been members of the Mountsorrel St John’s Ambulance Brigade and from their number was now formed a Voluntary Aid Detachment. Some volunteers helped at the stations in Leicester, meeting the hospital trains bringing wounded from the front for treatment at 5th Northern General Hospital and the Leicester Royal Infirmary. Others served as nurses at Military Hospitals across the country and behind the front lines in France.

The young people of the village were also involved with a Patrol of nine scouts deployed to the east coast during the winter of 1915/16 as part of the coast watch warning system against German Warships. Younger children were also involved in picking fruit for soldiers and in the autumn gathering chestnuts to be used in munition production.

As the war years progressed life in the village grew more challenging with shortages of foodstuffs and the reality of war coming close to home with the bombing of Loughborough during the Zeppelin Raids of 1916.

But the losses amongst families will have been felt the hardest with the annual toll increasing with each passing year from the 4 lost in 1914 rising to 33 in 1918. At war’s end the village had lost 95 dead but that total rose again in 1920 when Alfred Kirchen, who had never recovered after being severely wounded in the autumn of 1915, died at home where he was being cared for.

Castle Hill from the Watling St / Crown Lane Cufflin’s Pit Lane Junction c1900

A Memorial is planned Despite being proposed as early as 21st March 1919 it was not until 1926 that the final approvals had been obtained for the building of the memorial on the summit of Castle Hill. The final design differed from the original proposal of a granite obelisk and was produced by Shirley Harrison, the architect of De Montfort Hall in Leicester. His design represents an open doorway facing east to meet the rising sun. The cost of materials and building were met by Mountsorrel Granite Co Before the design was finally accepted a full-size mock up in timber and hessian was erected by Arthur Attenborough, Billy Butherway and Stanley Wakeling of the Mountsorrel Granite Company. The night before the inspection the village was hit by a storm and the mock-up was wrecked but at first light the next day the Granite Company men got to work and repaired the storm damage just in time for the acceptance inspection to go ahead.

Building the Memorial To build the memorial a concrete base was laid and a trolley tub line laid from the top of Crown Lane, across Watling St. and then up a cutting to the top of Castle Hill. This allowed the effective movement of the large blocks of granite to be moved from Broad Hill, then the Main (No. 1) Quarry to the site of the memorial.

The capstone being moved along the trolley tub line up on the western face of Castle Hill

Working on such a commanding position must have attracted many visitors during construction and have engendered ownership enhanced for the men involved in cutting the stone from the village quarries and constructing the memorial. Many of the men involved in cutting the stone for the monument from the village quarries had worked with, fought alongside and were, in some cases, relatives of those to be remembered on the memorial. Of the 96 known village casualties in World War 1 at least 27 worked for the Mountsorrel Granite Co.

Work commencing on the base

Capstone being winched into position

Dedication Service 15th August 1926

On the afternoon of Sunday, 15th August 1926 villagers gathered in great numbers on Castle Hill to attend the unveiling and service of dedication of the village War Memorial.

Nearly 200 former service men commanded by Lt Col R E Martin and led by the band of the 5th Battalion, the Leicestershire Regiment had marched from the Drill Hall on Loughborough Road to the ceremony where the memorial to their fallen comrades stood. It was surrounded by a Guard of Honour drawn from C Squadron the Leicestershire Yeomanry and 5th Battalion the Leicestershire Regiment. The bronze name plaques being covered by the Union Flag.

Arrival of the exServicemen’s detachment

With the widows and other family members of the fallen seated to the south of the memorial and the veterans and villagers behind them the unveiling and service of dedication commenced led by the Archdeacon of Loughborough supported by clergy from the village churches and chapels. with hymns and prayers. Lt Col R E Martin read the roll of honour, and the memorial was then unveiled by Maj-Gen C. Van Straubenzee, Commander of the Army’s 46th (North Midland) Division.

Gathering of villagers and the commencement of the Service

In a moving description the Loughborough Echo reported: “Perhaps the most impressive moments were the sounding of “The Last Post”, the silence and then the “Reveille.” In front of the memorial, which was clear-cut against the sky were the buglers, erect and immobile.

Soldiers and ex-soldiers stood to attention and the crowd was hushed.

Here on the hill, one seemed detached from the world below. As the final notes of the “Last Post” were sounded there fell a deep silence, in which the thoughts of many went out to those they had loved and lost.”

The service concluded with the laying of wreaths led by the widows and families of the fallen. This was followed by the laying of the wreath by the village ex-Servicemen consisting of laurel branches and red roses and bearing the inscription “In memory of our comrades 1914 -1918”.

The widows and families’ wreath laying led by Mrs Henrietta Martin and Mrs Violet Martin

The Veterans’ Wreath laid by Ernest Woolstan, Roland Goodman MM, Fred Darby MM and William Hallam DCM

The Roll of Honour 1914 – 1918

As published in the Unveiling and Dedication Service Programme

The village and WW2 Throughout the 1930s the risks of another war in Europe had been recognised and the War Office planned for risk of attack from the air by beginning the recruitment of Territorial Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments in 1936. The bulk of the Territorials, like the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve were committed to supporting the regular forces wherever they were deployed.

Similarly, the Home Office established an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) service in 1935. This became the Civil Defence Service in 1941 and incorporated the ARP Wardens Service, the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS - which later became the National Fire Service), along with First Aid Posts organised by the St John’s Ambulance and the British Red Cross.

Thus, when war was declared in 1939 the village was ready to serve with our Regular Reservists and Territorials being mobilised for action immediately and our Air Raid Precautions Service was ready when called.

Our local Territorials serving in 2nd/5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment deployed as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1939 but were forced to retreat to Dunkirk under the weight of the German “Blitzkrieg” in the spring of 1940. In that retreat the village lost its first casualty of WW2, James Dodge. Others were to follow from all three Services, but thankfully not in the numbers of WW1.

With the fall of France, the threat of invasion led to the re-organisation of Home Defence and the development of the Home Guard with the Mountsorrel Platoon tasked with guarding key industrial locations within the village in addition to defending the village in case of invasion.

As in WW1 the women of the village played their part, not simply taking on the roles of the men mobilised or serving in the Civil Defence Service but serving in the armed forces including the Women’s Land Army.

Recognising the Fallen of WW2 With peace declared in 1945 planning for a memorial started with discussions centring on the building of a Memorial Hall and fund-raising efforts commencing. As time passed it became apparent that this would be a long-term project and in August 1948 the Royal British Legion Mountsorrel Branch gained the agreement of the Parish Council for the addition of a WW2 plaque to the Castle Hill Memorial.

Centenary Events 15th August 2026

11:00 am

Centenary Commemoration Service at Castle Hill War Memorial

12:00 pm

Mountsorrel Memorial Centre – Refreshments and music provided by the Leicestershire Co-op Band

12:45 pm

Reading of the Roll of Honour

1:15 pm

Further music from the band and the ending of the public event

1:30 pm

Buffet lunch for invited guests

2:15 pm

Concert for invited guests

4:00pm

Commemoration Event Closes

Names of those not listed on Castle Hill Memorial Not all those who were casualties of either World War are named on the Memorial. The reasons are mixed but the most common being that families had moved from the village prior to the Memorial being built.

World War 1 Baum, C

Gascoigne, A

Riddle, J

Bentley, W

Gilbert, T

Simpson, J

Birch, J

Gilbert, T

Taylor, J

Bowler, A

Haines, W

Tomkins, W Rev

Breed, W

Hardy, H

Walters, L

Burnham, W

Lawton, A

Wells, J

Collis, S

Neal, R

Wilson, C

Dowell, W

Proudfoot, H

Wingell, W

World War 2 Buttery, JE

Spence, M

Taylor, R

Other Memorials in the Village Castle Hill War Memorial is undoubtedly, thanks to its location, the most striking of the village memorials but there are three others, which are directly linked to the expressed wishes of villagers after both World Wars: The War Memorials Playing Fields, Soar Valley Centre and Mountsorrel Memorial Centre. The two latter both have memorials within the buildings. In the hallway of the Memorial Hall, predecessor to the Memorial Centre, was a small plaque commemorating the village casualties of WW2. This is now in the care of the Mountsorrel War Memorials Trust.

St Peter’s Church has, in addition to memorial plaques to the fallen of the parish in both World Wars, a large Memorial window which is a village memorial. There is also a family plaque in memory of Maj. William Francis Martin, a former Church Warden of St Peter’s and Company Secretary of the Mountsorrel Granite Co. Inset into the memorial to the Vicar, Rev WJ Lewis, are the two bronze plaques to his two sons lost in 1918. The Verger’s Cross bears the names of members of the church choir and bellringers who were lost. In the latter years of WW1 St Peter’s, like many village churches, gained a “war shrine” which bore the names of the fallen during the war. For many years this was mounted on the outer wall of the church but, becoming badly weathered, is now in the care of the Mountsorrel Heritage Group.

Christ Church has a plaque to the fallen of WW1 but thankfully the parish lost no one during WW2. The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel by the quarry railway bridge had a memorial plaque which was sadly lost when the chapel was demolished.

In the Working Men’s Club is a large memorial plaque remembering the club members who were lost in WW2.

Some family graves in Mountsorrel Cemetery bear the names of family members lost in WW1 who either have no known grave or are buried overseas. There are also a small number of Commonwealth War Graves within the cemetery.

End Word “The tumult and the shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart; Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, A humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, Lest we forget – lest we forget!”

From the Hymn “God of our fathers, known of old” sung at the Unveiling and Dedication Ceremony in 1926