Preston War Memorial

The memorial stands in the Market Place in central Preston, in front of the Post Office (Grade II) and the Sessions House (Grade II*) and adjacent to the Harris Library and Museum (Grade I). Market Place is the largest public open space in the city centre. The memorial comprises a 21m tall, tapering Portland stone pylon with subtly panelled faces reflecting the profile of the Boer War obelisk that previously stood on this site. The top of the pylon takes the form of a square sepulchral block with shallow pediments and corner acroteria, above which is a large block ornamented with swags to each side held by cherubs on the angles.

At the base, the pylon stands on a large slab with to the front a projecting block supported on brackets; this represents the sarcophagus, on the front of which is a bronze cross within a wreath (the bronze work is by Messrs JW Singer and Sons of Frome). A non-canonical Ionic aedicule above encloses the helmeted figure of the Sorrowing Victory by Pegram. She holds wreaths aloft and is flanked by two pairs of Michaelangelesque nude figures of the dead ‘pleading for acceptance of their sacrifice’. The head of the aedicule has a frieze of five cherubs with linked hands. Its pediment is formed of two scrolls enclosing a cartouche with the city arms, appropriately the Lamb of God, symbol of the patron saint of Preston, St Wilfred.

To the front of the memorial, below the sarcophagus, the principal dedicatory inscription reads BE EVER MINDFUL OF THE MEN OF PRESTON/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WARS/ 1914 – 1918 1939 – 1945/ THIS LAND INVIOLATE YOUR MONUMENT. The letters are incised and gilded.

The memorial stands on a high, two-stepped cruciform plinth and is flanked by a pair of flagpoles with bronze bases standing on stone blocks ornamented with swags. The paved surround, four terminal blocks, steps to the south and north and the flanking semi-circular raised beds are part of the original design. The outer paving, and curved raised beds to the sides are more recent, but now an integral part of the memorial and based on Scott’s original geometric proportions. On the outer face of the west wall a new (2013) inscription reads BE EVER PROUD OF THE PEOPLE OF PRESTON WHO/ HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN CONFLICTS SINCE 1945.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 2 February 2017.