Westhoughton War Memorial including steps and rear wall.

The stone memorial, 5.1m tall, comprises a cross fleury with a moulded foot, rising from a tapering octagonal shaft. That stands on an octagonal plinth, set on a three-stepped base. Halfway down the cross shaft is carved THEIR NAME/ LIVETH/ FOR/ EVERMORE. The memorial stands on a raised, paved area approached up a flight of four steps from the pavement.

The front face of the plinth records the inscription IN THANKFUL REMEMBRANCE/ AND IN GRATITUDE/ TO THE MEN OF/ WESTHOUGHTON/ WHO FELL/ DURING THE GREAT WAR/ 1914-1918./ THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD,/ AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD,/ AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM,/ NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN./ AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN/ AND IN THE MORNING/ WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. The names of the First World War fallen are recorded on the remaining faces of the plinth.

Originally in a square enclosure, the memorial is now enclosed by a curved rear wall in stone, encompassing a central block and terminating in low returning walls. The rear wall is pierced by small apertures and capped with a moulded course that flows from the string course of the central block. This block is inscribed WE WILL REMEMBER THEM with an inset tablet below inscribed TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF WESTHOUGHTON/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR FOR FREEDOM/ (NAMES). The tablet is flanked by a carved floral pattern with, to the left, 1939, and to the right, 1945. To the right of the block, on the rear wall, a more recent dedication to a soldier killed in action is recorded beneath the inscription AFGHANISTAN.

The memorial stands in front of 110 and 112 Market Street (Grade II) and is opposite the Grade II-listed tower of the Church of St Bartholomew, on Church Street. On the other side of Market Street an area has been turned into a small memorial garden commemorating the Pretoria Pit disaster of 21 December 1910.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 30 January 2017.