Allenton War Memorial

Allenton War Memorial is a First World War memorial, dedicated in 1919, with additions commemorating the Second World War. It was sculpted by W Gadsby and Company of Derby and constructed from Hopton Wood limestone. The memorial is square in plan and faces north-west. It takes the form of a life-size statue of a soldier in First World War uniform, standing "at ease" with a rifle at his right side and a rock at his rear. The statue stands atop a capstone with a moulded, undercut dentilled cornice, set on a tall pedestal divided by an astragal. The pedestal’s upper sections contain inscriptions set between foliated relief carvings, while lower sections have raised inscription panels with pointed heads. The inscription on the north-west face (the front) reads “IN IMPERISHABLE MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF ALLENTOWN / WHO MADE THE SUPREME / SACRIFICE IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914 - 1918”, with the names of the men who died inscribed on the raised panel below. The south-west face is inscribed “IN IMPERISHABLE MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF ALLENTOWN / WHO ENLISTED IN THE / GREAT WAR / 1914”, and the north-east face reads “IN IMPERISHABLE MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF ALLENTOWN / WHO ENLISTED IN THE / GREAT WAR / 1915”. The names of the men who enlisted and returned are inscribed on the associated raised panels, the north-east side’s extending onto the plinth. A later addition on the rear (south-east) face, likely from 1989, commemorates those who died in the 1939-45 war and subsequent conflicts, while the lower section acknowledges the memorial’s re-siting and rededication by the Vicar of St Edmunds Church in Allenton on 29th October 1989. The memorial is positioned at the south-east side of a paved area enclosed by a low brick wall. Two further memorials against the wall—one for the Royal British Legion and one commemorating the planting of a tree in 1985 by the Derby and District Far East Prisoners of War Association—are situated nearby and excluded from the listing.