Otley War Memorial Cross and Memorial Garden

Otley War Memorial Cross and Memorial Garden

This memorial site on the north side of Bondgate comprises a First World War memorial cross dating to 1920, set within a memorial garden of remembrance laid out in 1955.

The memorial cross stands at the rear of the garden on a paved area against the backdrop of the sanctuary wall. It is executed in Anglo-Saxon style with the front face of the cross-head decorated with carved portraits of animals and saints arranged around a central boss. The cross surmounts a tapered shaft, rectangular in section, which bears figurative designs in panels depicting portraits of saints above a scene of a monk kneeling in front of an angel. Below this is an inscription carved in relief reading "TO THE GLORY / OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY / OF THOSE FROM / OTLEY / WHO FELL / IN THE WAR / 1914 – 1918". The sides are richly decorated with carved Anglo-Saxon designs incorporating plant scrolls, plaiting and interlace, birds and animals; the back carries similar ornament with further portraits. The shaft sits upon a three-stepped rectangular base; the middle step bears an inscription, now illegible, which originally read "[ILLEGIBLE] WITHIN THE CHURCH RECORDS THEIR NAMES".

The memorial garden is planned as a rectangular enclosure with a rectangular sunken garden at its centre, surrounded by paved walkways. Raised flower beds abut the dwarf perimeter walls which form the south, east and west boundaries. The north boundary is formed by the memorial sanctuary wall.

The sanctuary takes the form of a stepped stone wall constructed of narrow, coursed stone blocks surmounted by flat stone coping. The design features a taller central section flanked by walls which drop lower in stages, each flanking section stepping progressively forward. A two-stepped paved platform leads up to the wall. At the centre are four bronze plaques affixed to ashlar stone panels beneath a hooded lintel. The top centre plaque, which has a foliate design to each corner, bears the principal inscription "OTLEY WAR MEMORIAL / THIS GARDEN WAS BUILT TO / THE MEMORY OF ALL WHO / DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY / 1939 – 1945". Below are three plaques with names: that to the left is inscribed "1939 - 1945 / (29 NAMES) / 1956 / (1 NAME)"; the central panel reads "1939 - 1945 / (30 NAMES)"; and that to the right is inscribed "1939 – 1945 / (30 NAMES) / 1972 / (1 NAME)". Additional small rectangular plaques were affixed to the wall adjacent to the stone panel at a later date. That to the left bears "IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO / SERVED AND FELL ON / D-DAY JUNE 6TH 1944 / AND DURING THE / NORMANDY CAMPAIGN / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM". The two plaques to the right commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of hostilities with the inscription "TO COMMEMORATE / THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF / THE END OF HOSTILITIES / 1939 – 1945 / AND ALL FROM OTLEY / WHO / SERVED. FOUGHT. AND DIED. / LEST WE FORGET", with the lower plaque holding a dedication to a local man who died in active service in Afghanistan.

The garden is bounded by dwarf, roughly coursed, rock-faced stone walls to the south, east and west, each surmounted with flat stone coping. The principal entrance is positioned centrally on the south side with short, square gate piers and decorative metal gates. The gates include scroll metalwork and display the dates 1914-18 to the left and 1939-45 to the right, painted black with the dates picked out in gold. A secondary gated entrance is located at the north end of the east boundary wall. Raised flower beds, contained within retaining walls of narrow, coursed stone blocks, are situated against the perimeter walls to the east, west and south. The rectangular sunken garden at the centre has similar construction with raised kerbs to its edges.

The garden contains park benches, lamp posts, a flag pole and freestanding planters, which are not of special or historic interest.