Francis Joseph Frederick Edlmann - Petts Wood, Kent, UK
N 51° 23.966 E 000° 04.957
31U E 297070 N 5698283
This memorial stone is to be found towards the southern end of the main track that runs north/south through the woods. It is set in a clearing just to the west of the track in the Edlmann Memorial Wood.
Waymark Code: WMJ0RQ
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/06/2013
Views: 3
On the front of the stone, at the top, is a National Trust logo with the
wording "Petts Wood". Beneath is the main inscription that is carved into the
face of the memorial. It reads:
This woodland
was saved
in 1927 by
Francis Joseph
Frederick Edlmann
and was given
to the
National Trust
in 1957 by
Robert and
Francesca Hall
On the rear of the memorial are two small plates. The first is inscribed:
This stone
was given by
Clifford Lowe Platt
Chairman of the
Petts Wood Management Committee
1939 - 1974
The other reads:
The Golden Jubilee
of the gift of
The Hawkeswood Estate
was marked by
Rededication at this stone
on 26th April 2008
The PMSA website
tells us about the Edlmann stone:
A Cornish granite pillar, roughly rectangular in
shape, rough hewn all over and tapering slightly towards the top. Has
inscription on south east face in a smoothed panel carved into the surface.
It is set directly in the ground, beside a path in woodland. Above this is a
National Trust metal plaque; comprises a circle bearing the National Trust
symbol of oak leaves, with the words 'The National Trust' around the edge.
The circle merges at the bottom into a rectangular name plate, Petts Wood.
The lettering is black on a white background and the leaves are green. On
the back of the pillar is a bronze plaque commemorating the donation of the
memorial.
When the Willett Wood had been purchased as a memorial to William Willett,
the originator of British summer time, it was handed over to the National
Trust to administer. A. Horace Bird was chairman of the management
committee. There was still some woodland on the western edge which the fund
had been unable to afford, a total of 47 acres. This was bought in 1927 by
Colonel Francis Edlmann and added to his adjacent Hawkwood estate. The whole
of the wood was temporarily safe from development, but when Colonel Edlmann
died in 1950, the Hawkwood estate was put on the market. Although the 47
acres were offered separately at £2,000, the National Trust was unable to
afford its purchase but offered to administer it if money could be raised
from the public to buy it. Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District Council
used its powers under the Town and Country Planning Act to keep the estate
free from development and in 1955 a public enquiry upheld this decision. The
chairman of the management committee at the time was Clifford Platt who
spoke at the enquiry about the strong local opinion in favour of keeping the
area as public open space. The estate was bought by a local couple, Robert
and Franscesca Hall, who wanted to preserve it, and handed over to the
National Trust. The 47 acres of woodland was named the Edlmann Memorial
Wood. The memorial to Edlmann and the Halls was unveiled on 23 April 1958.
Robert Hall was killed three months later in a car accident; his wife was
badly injured but later went on to become chairman of the management
committee.