Adlington and District War Memorial

The Adlington and District War Memorial was erected in 1927, designed by an unknown architect. It is constructed from buff sandstone with bronze plaques and stands within a memorial garden adjacent to the road, situated between a chapel and a public library.

The memorial consists of a pylon set within an enclosed forecourt. The forecourt is enclosed by a balustrade to the front and sides, with a rear wall. A chamfered stone plinth runs around all four sides of the balustrade. The balustrade is supported by square piers with chamfered and stopped corners, surmounted by square caps with ball finials. Four of the ten pier caps have been replaced with simple concrete versions. Between the piers are amphora-shaped balusters, each with bases and capitals, and a moulded coping. The rear wall is built of large, regularly coursed ashlar blocks, matching the coping of the balustrade.

The pylon itself is built of regularly coursed ashlar blocks, with stub walls projecting forwards on either side. These stub walls carry Tuscan columns supporting a stepped entablature and moulded cornice, topped with circular finials with ball tops. The top two courses of the pylon step in and each consist of a single horizontal stone; the lower of these is inscribed “LEST WE FORGET”. The front faces of the stub walls are inscribed with the years of the outbreak and cessation of the two World Wars.

A recess between the columns houses a tall bronze plaque, surmounted by a garland of laurel leaves and poppies. This plaque bears the inscription "IN GRATEFUL REMEM-/ -BRANCE OF THE MEN/ FROM ADLINGTON AND/ DISTRICT WHO FELL IN/ THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1918", followed by a shamrock, leek and rose, a thistle, and a list of the fallen. Below the names is the inscription "TELL BRITAIN YE WHO/ MARK THIS MONUMENT/ FAITHFUL TO HER WE FELL/ AND REST CONTENT.” Further bronze plaques listing the names of the fallen from the Second World War are fixed to the inner faces of the stub walls. Additional plaques, added in 2012, are fixed to the front of the rear wall, listing previously omitted names alongside the First and Second World Wars, plus a victim of the 1935 Quetta earthquake. These newer plaques include the inscription “IN MEMORY OF ALL SERVICE PEOPLE, / PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE, / FROM, OR LAID TO REST IN, / ADLINGTON AND DISTRICT. / WE SHALL / REMEMBER THEM.” A total of 143 names from the First World War and 61 from the Second World War are recorded.

It is noted that the concrete replacements for four of the original stone pier caps and ball finials are excluded from the listing due to not possessing special architectural or historic interest.