Oswaldtwistle War Memorial

The Oswaldtwistle War Memorial stands at the junction of Union Road and Rhydding Street. Constructed in the years following the First World War, it commemorates those who died in the Great War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953), and those who died in Northern Ireland. The memorial is built of polished granite, consisting of a tall obelisk supported by a pedestal on a three-tier stone platform. The lowest step of the platform is bordered by a rake of stone setts, which replace an earlier arrangement of cobblestones.

The obelisk has a deep cornice and is topped by a bronze figure of winged Victory standing upon a globe and holding a laurel wreath. The pedestal has a moulded cornice and base, and a convex (west) face which supports a plinth inscribed with a passage from the Bible: "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS. S.JOHN XV.13." This face also features bronze figures depicting an infantryman, bayonet fixed, defending a wounded comrade.

On the north and south sides, a carved ship's prow emerges from the base of the obelisk, each accompanied by a small bronze figure of Victory. One holds a winged laurel wreath resembling an RAF pilot’s brevet, and the other a wreath encircling the Royal Navy insignia. These neo-classical features, derived from Roman rostral columns erected to mark naval victories, are unusual in a civic war memorial; a similar example exists at Greenock in Scotland. A cartouche is set into the base of the obelisk’s east face.

Inscriptions on the front (west) of the pedestal acknowledge that the memorial was erected by public subscription in memory of the men of the town who died in the Great War. The south face lists those who died in the Second World War and the Korean War. A further inscription on the east face remembers those who died in Northern Ireland.