Teetotal tribute among ‘secret’ memorials to make listed grade

A MEMORIAL celebrating the success of the teetotal movement, while certainly quirky, is unlikely to generate the kind of outcry that has surrounded statues of controversial figures such as Cecil Rhodes and Edward Colston.

But Historic England is hoping to shift the focus away from the angry protests that have befallen certain high-profile figures by listing memorials to lesser-known causes, and highlighting the achievements of relatively unknown individuals.

When it asked members of the public to share their knowledge of Eng- land’s forgotten, secret or little-known memorials, it received more than 400 responses, detailing local murals and street shrines, inscriptions on benches and community tributes. They included a statue of the women who packed Carr’s Table Water Biscuits; a pub mural to a local hero who led a revolt against the Crown; and a statue honouring the 200 shipyard workers who marched from the North East to Parliament to protest against poverty.

Of the hundreds of nominations, several will today be listed by the Government, while a selection will be unveiled in the Immortalised exhibition, which opens in London next month.

Among them are: the Preston Abstinence Memorial, erected in 1859 to commemorate the success of the Teetotal Movement; and the Bristol gravestone of Mary Carpenter, who founded a ragged school in the 19th century, bringing education to poor children and young offenders. Also listed is the 250-year-old tombstone of Sarah Smith, a 21-year-old who was murdered in 1763 in Staffordshire; and a memorial to heroic self sacrifice – ordinary people who died saving the lives of others – in Postman’s Park, near St Paul’s Cathedral, which has now been upgraded to Grade II.

Celia Richardson, director of public engagement at Historic England, said: “There have been a number of discussions about why we have so few statues of women and people of colour but recent debate has been polarised and very much focused on the statues in our squares. We felt it was the time to get people exploring and as a result, we found an awful lot of complex and quirky memorials and some really important and fascinating folk histories.”