Biddulph War Memorial

First World War memorial, 1922, with additions for later conflicts.

MATERIALS: granite, limestone sculpture.

DESCRIPTION: Biddulph War Memorial is located at the junction of Congleton Road and John Street at the centre of the town.

It takes the form of a limestone sculpture of a soldier leaning on a reversed rifle, with a jagged piece of rock carved behind the soldier. The rest of the memorial is of granite. The soldier stands upon a splayed base surmounting a square plinth with a cushion-cap and splayed foot. The whole rises from a chamfered block base. Two additional granite plaques have been affixed at an angle to the base of the memorial to the north-east and south-west sides.

The plinth and additional plaques carry the inscriptions and names in incised lettering, painted gold. The principal inscription is to the north-east face and reads TO THE/ GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN/ GRATEFUL MEMORY/ OF THE MEN OF THIS/ PARISH WHO FELL/ IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1918. A further inscription reads THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE and is incised to the north-east face of the plinth foot. 73 names are listed beneath the principal inscription and on the remaining three sides of the plinth and relate to those who died in the First World War. The angled plaques also carry the names of those who died in the First World War and later conflicts. That to the north-east is inscribed 1939-1945/ (39 NAMES), while that to the south-west is inscribed 1914-18/ (9 NAMES)/ 1939-1945/ (10 NAMES)/ 2007 (NAME).

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The memorial is enclosed by decorative metal railings*.

• Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 31 January 2018.