Great Glen Village Green
Can anyone help us to date this photo?
The Old Greyhound can just be seen at the top left of the photo, and the house at the top right is Valley House, which has now been demolished and Valley House Mews now stands in its place
.The phone box can be clearly seen, this is still there and is a listed building.
Photograph of the Village Green
We are indebted to Catherine Finnemore for this photograph, which shows part of the Village Green on London Road. Before it became the Village Green the land was a small cattle enclosure owned by the lord of the manor. The ground was given to the village in 1919 by Major (later Col.) E.C. Packe, on condition that it be converted into a village green and be the site of a memorial to local men lost in the Great war of 1914 – 18. The photograph does not show enough of the green to see the position where the War Memorial is. The memorial was completed and dedicated on New Year’s Day 1921.
Memorial Green
The land for the Memorial Green was given to the Parish in September 1919 by Major E.C. Packe before he left for India with his regiment. He gave this small round field on condition that it should be converted into a Village Green and be the site of the Memorial to be erected in memory of those who fell in the Great War. This was accepted, the hedge around the field was removed and the Clerk to Great Glen Parish Council sent the following letter to Major Packe:
“Glen Magna
12 September 1919
To Major Packe, D.S.O., Stretton Hall.
Dear Sir,
I am directed to ask your kind acceptance of grateful thanks from the inhabitants of Glen for the gift of the round field opposite Mr Lewin’s. This is an outcome of a Public Meeting, embracing a resolution from the Parish Council in similar terms.
The site, when taken over by the Council, will be made attractive by planting of shrubs etc., and a much needed improvement made at a dangerous corner.
The primary object is a Memorial to the “Glorious Dead”. Your contribution of a site is a noble act, and sure to arouse inspiration which will lead to an imposing monument being erected.
Two minutes appear in the Parish Records relative to this valuable gift, enabling future generations to know who was the donor of such a beautiful site.
Yours obediently,
Thos. F. Gilbert
Clerk to the Council”
The War memorial, a Crusader’s Cross of Cornish Granite, was unveiled on the Memorial Green on New Year’s Day 1921.