ILMINSTER NEWS: Flagpole base listed by Historic England

COUNTLESS people will go past this local landmark on a daily basis and probably do not even give it a second look – but this commemorative flagpole base in the grounds of the former Ilminster Junior Boys’ School has been designated a special building of historic interest.

The flagpole base can be seen in Ditton Street in the area of lawn at the front of what are now the offices of the Somerset Skills and Learning Centre in Ditton Street next to Swanmead School.

Members of Ilminster Town Council will tonight (Tuesday, July 18, 2016) hear that Historic England has listed the base under the Planning Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990 for its special architectural or historic interest.

The flagpole base was erected in 1920 to commemorate the boys of the former Ilminster Junior Boys’ School who died during the First World War and their headmaster, Thomas Bird Edmonds, who died following the war.

A Historic England spokesman said: “It has been listed at Grade II because it is a poignant example of a war memorial in the relatively unusual form of a flagpole base displaying classical style detailing.”

The spokesman added: “Though the loss of its flagpole is regrettable, the decorative base has survived and a suitable flagpole could be re-instated if appropriate.”

A bronze plaque on the flagpole base reads: “Erected in memory of the old boys of this school who fell in the Great War – also of – Thomas Bird Edmonds, their beloved headmaster, who died Feb 15th 1920.”

Ilminster Junior Boys’ School opened in 1900 and closed in 1970 and the buildings have been used in recent years for the Somerset Skills and Learning Centre.

Perhaps take a closer look at the flagpole base the next time you are in Ditton Street?

PHOTOS: The commemorative flagpole base and plaque situated on the front lawn of what is now the Somerset Skills and Learning Centre in Ditton Street, Ilminster.

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