Utkinton War Memorial

The Utkinton War Memorial is a First World War memorial built in 1918, featuring a carved crucifix that forms a French-style Calvary shrine, with additions made for the Second World War in 1923. It is constructed from Eddisbury stone for the podium, ashlar sandstone for the plinth, and a teak crucifix.

Located prominently at the junction of John Street and Quarry Bank, opposite the former Utkinton Primitive Methodist Chapel, the memorial stands 3.2 meters high on a two-step podium made of blocks of Eddisbury Stone. The teak crucifix gives the memorial the appearance of a roadside Calvary shrine. It is set on a square sandstone plinth with chamfered upper edges. The carved figure of Christ looks up towards the heavens, beneath the lettering I R N I, which stands for "Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum" (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews), and is protected by a carved timber canopy.

The east face of the plinth is recessed and features an inscription that reads: "GREATER·LOVE·HATH·NO·MAN / THAN·THIS. / THEY·GAVE·THEIR·HEARTS·TO·THEIR·HOMES / THEY·GAVE·THEIR·LIVES·TO·THEIR·COUNTRY / THEY·GAVE·THEIR·SOULS·TO·GOD." Below this dedication, six names are inscribed in two columns of three, flanking an intaglio carved cross set within a cusped recess. The south side of the memorial is inscribed: "DEDICATED·TO·THE·MEMORY / OF·THOSE·BRAVE·MEN / OF·UTKINTON·WHO·FELL / IN·THE·GREAT·WAR. / 1914-1919 / PEACE·SIGNED·AT·VERSAILLES / JUNE·28." The west face has no inscription, while the north side lists two names separated by the inscription 1939-1945; the upper name commemorates an individual who died during the First World War after the memorial was erected, and the lower name honors an individual who died during the Second World War.