Litten War Memorial Gardens, Chichester

Litten Gardens is a small public park on New Park Road in Chichester, just outside the city walls and a short stroll from the historic city centre. The park stands on the site of a Roman cemetery and a later medieval burial ground first used in the early 12th century. The southern end of the park is given over to the Litten War Memorial Garden.

The Burial Ground

Few burials took place after 1860 and the medieval cemetery was later split in two parts by what is now New Park Road. The area that is now the park was used for grazing sheep.

The scattered gravestones were catalogued in 1937 and the stones were arranged in tightly packed rows. The gravestone records are held at the West Sussex Records Office.

Ancient gravestones

The oldest gravestone in Litten Gardens is that of Richard Addamson (d. 1690). Other interesting stones commemorate a man who died after being kicked by a horse, and a woman who died in childbirth. Perhaps the most touching memorial is to three children of the same family who died of smallpox within days of each other in 1759.

In 2008, gravestones from what is now the New Park Road car park were moved to Litten Park. An archaeological dig in the car park in 2011 unearthed more skeletons. These were reburied at All Saints Church in Portfield, but the gravestones were moved to Litten Park.

Chichester War Memorial, 1921

The Chichester War Memorial

In the southern end of the park is the Chichester War Memorial, but the memorial did not start out here. It was erected in Eastgate Square on 20 July 1921 where it was dedicated by the Dean of Chichester Cathedral to the memory of 323 service personnel from the Chichester area who died during WWI.

The names are carved onto 16 vertical tablets fixed to the monument's base. An additional four tablets were added to record the names of the 255 military personnel who fell in WWII. On the south face is a plaque with the Chichester coat of arms and the inscription:

IN GRATEFUL
REMEMBRANCE
OF THE MEN OF
CHICHESTER
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914-19
1939-1945

The memorial was designed by the firm of Unsworth and Triggs of Petersfield. Unsworth and Triggs also had a hand in war memorial at Petersfield, Woking, and Steep. All of these memorials, including Chichester, are designated Grade II by English Heritage.

Lance Corporal Maurice Patten Statue

The memorial was crafted the EF Perriman, a mason from Petersfield.

The memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson GCB, KVCO. Robertson had a remarkable military career. He enlisted as a private at the age of just 16 and rose through the ranks to become a Field Marshal; the highest rank. He was at the time the only man in the history of the British Army to have held every rank.

In 1940 the memorial was moved to Litten Gardens to ease traffic flow in Eastgate Square. Four stone tablets were added in 2001 to remember the local men and women who died during WWII.

On Remembrance Sunday each year, the Mayor of Chichester and all the City Councillors, accompanied by the Chairs of the West Sussex County Council and the Chichester District Council, walk to the war memorial for a service of remembrance followed by two minutes of silence.

Lt Colonel Elstob memorial stone

Garden of Reflection and Reconciliation

In 2018, to mark 100 years since the end of WWI, a new Garden of Reflection and Reconciliation was created in Litten Gardens. To mark the occasion, a chainsaw sculpture was created from a piece of Sussex oak.

The sculpture depicts two men seated back to back, one clad in civilian clothes and the other in military clothing. The men don't represent any particular person, but the sculpture was inspired by the life of Private Alfred Smith, who enlisted in the 4th Royal Sussex Regiment in 1915. He was wounded a year later and invalided out of the Army. The sculpture is intended to show, quite literally, two sides of the same character; the soldier and the civilian.

Garden of Reflection and Reconciliation

Next to the Garden of Remembrance is a memorial stone to Colonel Wilfrith Elstob VC, DSO, MC, who served with the Manchester Regiment. Elstob was born in Chichester in 1888 and his father served as a Priest Vicar at Chichester Cathedral.

Colonel Elstob was killed in action defending Manchester Hill in March 1918. He awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross in 1919. His burial place is unknown.

Another view of the chainsaw sculpture

A final sculpture was unveiled in 2020 to mark the centenary of the founding of the Rotary Club. The sculpture was created by Vincent Gray MRSS and depicts Lance Corporal Maurice Patten of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

Maurice Patten was a resident of Eartham and died from injuries received on 13 January 1916. He is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery in France and his name is recorded in the Royal Sussex Regiment's Chapel in the cathedral.

The poignant statue shows Patten standing 'resting on arms reversed', his head bowed and the muzzle of his rifle resting on his left foot. This pose is commonly used to depict mourning. Shown at the statue's feet are Patten's possessions returned to his mother after his death. They include a tobacco pouch, a silver watch and chain, a Bible, and family photographs. The real Bible, which still survives, bears shrapnel marks.

Visiting

Litten Park stands at the junction of New Park Road and St Pancras Road, a short walk from the city centre and from the short-stay car park on New Park Road.