Macclesfield War Memorial

The Macclesfield War Memorial stands in Park Green, situated in front of the Grade II-listed Chapel Mill and surrounded by other Grade II-listed buildings. The monument is a circa 7-metre tapering ashlar pillar rising from a broad, three-stage base. An engaged column is set into the front of the base, supporting the principal dedicatory inscription and two of the bronze sculptures. Low, curved walls flank the base, terminating in tapering capped piers and creating a semi-circular forecourt.

The front of the pillar is ornamented with a Latin cross carved in low relief, while the remaining three sides, and the fronts of the matching wall piers, display bronze wreaths. Four freestanding piers, each bearing alphabetically ordered names of those commemorated from the First World War, are placed separately to the front in a square pattern.

The bronze statue group at the top of the pillar features a hooded female mourner with a bowed head, draped gown partly gathered in her right hand, and holding a wreath in her left. Below, a gassed young soldier lies on his back, depicted beneath Britannia, who offers a laurel wreath with her right hand and holds a furled flag in her left.

The principal inscription reads: “THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED IN HONOUR OF MACCLESFIELD MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR KING & EMPIRE IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918. UNVEILED BY THE MAYOR OF MACCLESFIELD, ALDERMAN J. G. FROST J.P. SEPTEMBER 21ST 1921.” Further inscriptions below the bronze wreaths specify locations of service: FRANCE/BELGIUM/EGYPT, PALESTINE/MESOPOTAMIA/RUSSIA, and ITALY/MACEDONIA/DARDANELLES.

Later additions include bronze plaques affixed to the front faces of the low flanking walls, recording approximately 200 Second World War casualties, with the dedication “IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR 1939-1945.”