Elworth War Memorial

Elworth War Memorial is a First World War memorial constructed in 1920, with later additions of names commemorating the Second World War. The memorial is built from Portland stone and stands approximately 5 metres tall. It faces west and features a statue of a soldier standing atop a pilastered square column set on a low square step, all resting on an octagonal York stone base which sits on a six-sided York stone paved ground. The soldier wears a cap and stands at ease, holding a rifle in his right hand, the butt resting on a small square pedestal; his lower half appears to emerge from a rock stump at the rear. The column itself has a moulded cornice with a dentil course, and is rusticated below, featuring an ashlar pilaster with a finial, an egg-and-dart corniced capital, a channelled base, and a plinth. On the north and south faces, the sides of the pilasters are visible. Below the column is a podium with a moulded cornice and plinth. The front of the podium bears an inscription in bronze lettering, reading "IN MEMORY OF/ THE SAILORS AND SOLDIERS OF THIS PARISH WHO/ FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918". Below this inscription are two vertical columns listing, alphabetically, the 20 names of those who died in the First World War, typically including their rank and full names. The left and right returns are similar, with upper inscriptions indicating the dates of the Second World War, and ten names listed alphabetically below each. The rear faces identically, except for the rock stump concealing the statue’s legs, and lacks any inscription. The memorial is enclosed by low walls constructed from brown brick in Flemish bond, with flat-topped, twice-weathered sandstone copings. The walls terminate in square piers at the wide entrance from the street. At the corners of the returns are 2-metre-tall piers with plinths and corniced stone caps, each featuring the circular bases of what were once funerary urns. Beyond these corner piers, and linked to them by lower walls, are identical piers that still retain their urns. The half-height walls and the side and rear walls of the enclosure are topped with railings featuring ball finials.