Emsworth has a very rare combined bus shelter and war memorial.
After World War I the residents of Emsworth wanted a useful memorial to fallen comrades from the town, and endowed two beds in Emsworth Victoria Cottage Hospital.
Did you know?
An endowment is a legal structure for managing and indefinitely continuing a financial, property or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors.
After World War II the next group of returning service personnel had the same need to commemorate all the colleagues who had served their country. They did not want ‘just a lump of stone’ but something more useful to the community. The Royal British Legion branch in Emsworth coordinated efforts to find something appropriate and it was felt that a covered seating area in the Square, where they all used to congregate and chat, would be ideal.
In December 1950 the unveiling took place, with standards and banners of many Emsworth organisations on parade. It was an occasion of great civic pride in Emsworth, commemorating the efforts and sacrifice of its young men and women in war.
Over the years the original purpose of the bus shelter was lost. Anne and Paddy Keen, of Tower Street, left money for its restoration but it sank into relative obscurity until 2012, when it was refurbished by Emsworth Business Association with help from the regiments based on Thorney Island.
Did you know?
The bus shelter has the inscription: ‘When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today . We will remember them’.
The bus shelter memorial is described officially as ‘bus shelter with pitched, tiled roof and rectangular paned wood frame to sides and back. Dedication plaque inside. Further dedication on supporting beam below pitched roof on both sides of shelter. Some glass panes bear monochrome images of WW2 ,possibly of local Emsworth scenes’.
- Website entry from War Memorials Online – click here
- Website entry from the Imperial War Museum – click here
- For more heritage visit the Emsworth museum – click here