Norton Memorial Cross

Memorial cross, designed by the practice of Brierley and Rutherford of York.

The memorial stands in the churchyard of the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin (Grade I), immediately to the south-east of the church’s south porch. It takes the form of a tall stone cross. The cross head is a hooded crucifix bearing the clothed figure of Christ crucified. The cross head rises from the moulded collar of the octagonal cross shaft. The cross shaft stands on a tapering plinth, square on plan, which is raised on a three-stepped circular base.

The principal dedicatory inscription is incised to the front face of the plinth, reading TO THE UNDYING MEMORY/ OF THE MEN OF NORTON/ WHO LAID DOWN THEIR/ LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914-1919/ THEY LOVED NOT THEIR/ LIVES UNTO THE DEATH/ THEIR NAMES ARE RECORDED/ IN THE CHURCH. The later inscription on a second face reads REMEMBER/ ALSO THOSE WHO/ LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN/ THE SECOND WORLD WAR/ 1939-1945.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 21 February 2017.