Lytham St Anne's War Memorial

First World War memorial, erected in 1924 by Lord Ashton.

MATERIALS: bronze sculpture on granite cenotaph.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial stands on a platform at the south-west of Ashton Gardens (laid out 1914-16). It is constructed in white granite with bronze reliefs and statuary and consists of a tall pylon on a stepped pedestal and plinth. The pylon has slightly raised panels to each face and is surmounted by a hemisphere upon which stands a bronze female figure in a classical robe with arms raised.

Projections on the sides of the pedestal support over-life size bronze statues. On the left is an infantryman seated but alert, grasping his rifle by the muzzle (the latter inscribed ‘1923 W.Marsden’), his head turned sideways and left fist clenched. Marsden is said to have stated that the figure was intended to convey the warning "They’re coming again!". On the right side, in contrast, a seated woman who has just been told of her husband’s death gazes ahead, unresponsive to the pleadings of the naked child on her lap.

The front (west) face of the pedestal has a rectangular bronze panel with raised lettering inscribed: 1914 : NAMES OF THE FALLEN : 1918, and has 170 names beneath, flanked on the left by relief figures of an airman and a seaman, and on the right by two infantrymen. The panel wraps around the left and right returns of the pedestal depicting, respectively, a nurse bandaging a soldier’s hand, and a departing soldier embracing his wife, their small daughter tugging her mother’s shawl. The rear face of the pedestal has a bronze panel, also wrapping around the sides, depicting a procession of soldiers returning from the battlefield, including stretcher-bearers, men carrying their wounded comrades, and a line of men blinded by gas. Dress, weaponry and equipment are illustrated in great detail.

The front and rear faces of the pylon have a plaque inscribed: IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL 1939 – 1945, each with 64 names. A further plaque commemorates the dead of later conflicts.