Branston War Memorial

Branston War Memorial is a First World War memorial, dating from approximately 1920, with an addition commemorating the Second World War. It is prominently situated in a niche in the churchyard wall of St Guthlac’s Church, facing Main Road in Branston, Leicestershire. The memorial comprises a timber calvary, approximately 2.5 metres in height. This consists of a canopied cross with a carved wooden figure of Christ, placed atop a tapering four-sided plinth that sits on a two-tiered base. Two roll of honour boards, each with a gable-shaped canopy, are attached to the walls on either side of the calvary. A deliberately-created semi-circular niche in the churchyard wall forms the curving back wall, with an eyebrow head at its centre, behind the calvary. The ground is paved and has a kerb along the footprint of the original churchyard wall. The plinth bears inscriptions in leaded lettering. The principal inscription, in incised and infilled lettering, reads "LORD REMEMBER WHEN THOU COMEST/ IN THY KINGDOM THOSE WHO GAVE LIFE/ FOR US IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1918"/ (NAMES)// R.I.P.// "SONS OF THIS PLACE, LET THIS OF YOU BE SAID,/ THAT YOU WHO LIVE ARE WORTHY OF YOUR DEAD/ THESE GAVE THEIR LIVES, THAT YOU WHO LIVE MAY REAP/ A RICHER HARVEST, ERE YOU FALL ASLEEP." A Second World War inscription on a side face of the plinth reads 1939 - 1945/ NAME. The rolls of honour on the walls read IN THANKFUL REMEMBRANCE OF/ THE MEN OF BRANSTON WHO WENT/ TO SERVE THEIR COUNTRY IN/ THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 18/ AND RETURNED IN SAFETY/ WE THANK THEE O GOD/ (NAMES).