Arts and Crafts Influence

It is extremely desirable that [war shrines] should be of seemly form and of the best available materials and workmanship.   Edward Warren, architect

Not everyone agreed that the war shrines brought 'beauty' to the streets. An exhibition of shrines hosted at Selfridges department store did 'not give any great encouragement to those who look for a revival of art in daily life', said one critic. In 1916, the missionary Civic Arts Association was formed out of the Art Workers Guild, to promote 'the utilization for Civic purposes of the Arts and Crafts throughout the country'. This self-appointed 'committee of taste' was concerned during WW1 that war shrines and memorials should be well designed and of good quality and materials. The CAA organised a competitive exhibition of war memorials in 1916 (in which the sculptor Eric Gill won second prize), and published two pamphlets providing guidance for the making of shrines, written by the architects Edward Warren (1856-1937) and George Jack (1855-1931).

Suggested design by George Jack for
'a war shrine on a moorland road'.

Jack's pamphlet gives a number of design principles for war shrines that could easily apply to the Stoneham War Shrine and its twin: the value of using materials "as may be common to the locality in which the shrine is to be made"; "stone ... in roughly dressed blocks, large rough slabs, without too much neatness of finish"; the temporary rolls of honour to be later replaced with "panels or shields of cast lead"; "woods should be left clean from the tool, and nothing whatever done to darken or otherwise improve them, as a short time will give them a beautiful silvery grey hue."

Pathetic war shrines, lovingly tended for years afterwards, had, rather ironically, by World War II succumbed to weather and neglect. Like old soldiers they faded away.   Catherine Rothwell

It is telling that the war shrine phenomenon has not been particularly well remembered or documented, and that few war shrines survive. Many people found the emotionality of the shrines uncomfortable, as well as the mixture of superstition and religion they evoked. The shrines were a dynamic force, allowing people to express anxiety and a sense of loss; as the rawness of the grief and circumstances of war receded, so did the resonance of the shrines. The post-war war memorials were more commonly derived from the, often secular, 'cenotaph' (the empty tomb) rather than the shrine.

In 1916, the Civic Arts Association had invited competition entries for designs for 'Inexpensive Memorials for "The Home"'. This idea was properly realised by the Goverment in 1918 with the bronze 'Next of Kin Memorial Plaque', or 'Dead Man's Penny', a momento given to the families of every soldier or sailor who died in the war, sent out with an illuminated scroll and printed letter from the King. Perhaps these items were born out of the shrine movement. If so, then it is appropriate that many people made domestic shrines around these plaques, arranged together with the deceased's medals and photographs.