The only known free-standing memorial in England that commemorates German prisoner of war (PoW) deaths has been given Grade II-listed status, Historic England has said.

It described the World War One monument in Fordington, Dorchester, Dorset, as “exceptionally rare”.

The memorial commemorates 45 German PoWs who died whilst at Dorchester camp.

It stands in the grounds of St George’s Church where many were buried.

The war memorial was erected in 1919, long before the German war cemetery at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, was built in the 1960s – which does not have freestanding war memorial commemorating German PoWs.

It was also designed and built by German PoWs and has links to novelist Thomas Hardy.

He recruited one prisoner to work on his garden at Max Gate and visited the PoW camp in Dorchester, Historic England added.

Historic England is a government service that works to protect England’s historical environment, including archaeology, buildings, parks, maritime wrecks and monuments.

The Fordington monument is the latest listing its pledge to list 2,500 memorials by 2018, to mark the centenary of the World War One.