Burnley War Memorial

First World War memorial. Erected 1926 by the County Borough of Burnley. Designed by Walter Gilbert and Louis Weingartner. Founders and stonemasons HH Martyn & Co, Cheltenham. MATERIALS: Portland stone cenotaph flanked by bronze figures, on a granite plinth. DESCRIPTION: the memorial is located approximately 70m to the south-east of Towneley Hall, a country house of late-medieval origin whose gardens and pleasure grounds were formed largely in the mid- to late C18. It stands in a small triangular garden of remembrance enclosed by clipped hedges and surrounded by mature trees. The memorial consists of a concave plinth of grey granite bearing a high sculpted wall of Portland stone flanked by bronze statues. The wall tapers slightly and gradually takes the form of three monumental figures which appear to emerge from it: a soldier in the centre wearing a great coat, clasping a military telescope, a seaman on the left with a naked torso and coat over his arm, and airman on the right with helmet, scarf and aviator goggles. On each side is an over-lifesize statue of a woman: to the left, a mother in a shawl and headscarf, stooping to lay a wreath; by her side is a rosemary branch with a cricket bat and ball beneath; and to the right a wife or sister in a flowing gown looking upwards to the figures and cradling a large floral garland, with a large palm leaf at her feet. The wall is inscribed at the foot: THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED IN MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF BURNLEY WHO GAVE THEIR / LIVES FOR THEIR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN / IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 / Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints in Glory everlasting (a quotation from the Te Deum). Beneath is a further inscription: THIS MONUMENT STANDS ALSO IN HONOUR OF / THOSE WHO DIED FOR OUR FREEDOM 1939-1945. The rear is inscribed: THE SUM NECESSARY / FOR THE ERECTION OF THIS MEMORIAL / WAS BEQUEATHED BY CALEB THORNBER, J.P., / A FORMER MAYOR AND ALDERMAN OF THIS BOROUGH, / TO ENSURE THAT THE SACRIFICE COMMEMORATED / SHOULD EVER BE HELD IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE. / THE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE WAS PROVIDED BY / THE TOWNSPEOPLE OF BURNLEY.  The memorial stands on a shallow stone platform within a circular paved enclosure bisected by a pathway, surrounded by low walls with terminal posts. Within the front section of the enclosure is a hemispherical pond.