Nuneaton War Memorial

The pink granite memorial stands in the northern part of Riversley Park, aligned with Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery (not listed) and the Boer War memorial. It takes the form of a tall Celtic cross with five hemispherical bosses on the cross head. The staged foot of the cross shaft rises from a large tapering plinth, square on plan. The plinth’s battered foot stands on three low steps of a different stone. The bottom step carries a low ornamental rail of twisted iron, painted black.

The front face of the plinth is ornamented with a wreath suspended from a ribbon, carved in relief, below which the principal dedicatory inscription reads: IN MEMORY OF THE BRAVE MEN/ OF NUNEATON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR/ KING & COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1919/ AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF ALL/ WHO FELL IN THE WORLD WAR/ 1939 – 1945/ “THEIR NAMES SHALL LIVE FOR EVERMORE.”

The commemorated names are recorded on the remaining faces of the plinth, on dark stone plaques inserted into the plinth, with to the rear an inscription reading: “THEY WROUGHT TO SAVE/ US & TO SAVE US DIED.” This line was taken from the temporary memorial that preceded the monument in the park.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 17 January 2017.