Portobello War Memorial

The memorial comprises a stone Latin cross mounted on an obelisk decorated with carved interlacing foliate designs. It stands on an octagonal two-stepped chamfered plinth upon a two-stepped base.

Gilded onto slate plaques on the front face of the obelisk is a dedication that reads: THE/ ROSE AND CROSS/ OUR EMBLEM TRUE/ OF LOVE THAT/ OUT OF SUFFERING GREW/ THE LOVE WHICH/ KINDLETH SOULS TO LIVE/ THE PUREST LOVE/ THAT ONE CAN GIVE/ WON BY/ UNSELFISHNESS AND PAIN/ THAT BROTHERHOOD.

ERECTED/ BY THE INHABITANTS/ IN/ HONOUR/ OF THE BRAVE MEN/ OF/ PORTOBELLO/ WHO FOUGHT/ IN THE/ GREAT WAR/ AND IN/ GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE/ OF THOSE WHO/ LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES.

THOU WAST THEIR ROCK THEIR/ FORTRESS AND THEIR MIGHT/ THOU, LORD, THEIR CAPTAIN/ IN THE WELL FOUGHT FIGHT/ THOU IN THE DARKNESS DREAR/ THEIR ONE TRUE LIGHT.

On the other three faces are lists of the 312 fallen men from the First World War gilded onto slate plaques. Above each of the three plaques are carved onto the stone obelisk the words: DUTY, SACRIFICE and LIBERTY, one word on each face.

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, 17 January 2017.