Redditch St Stephen War Memorial

A First World War memorial, 1922, designed by the Bromsgrove Guild, with later additions.

MATERIALS: Portland stone.

DESCRIPTION: The memorial stands in a prominent location, adjacent to the Church of St Stephen (Grade II). It comprises a Latin cross on a tall, tapering octagonal shaft with a substantial two-tiered square pedestal and single-stepped octagonal base. On the south-west face of the pedestal is a carving of James Clark’s ‘The Great Sacrifice’.

The inscriptions beneath the carving read: (on upper tier of plinth) BESEECHING THEE/ –THAT/ WITH THEM WE MAY BE PARTAKERS/ OF THY HEAVENLY KINGDOM.

(on lower tier of plinth) THIS EMBLEM OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH/ IS ERECTED TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN HONORED MEMORY OF THE/ MEN AND BOYS OF THIS PARISH/ WHO WON THE GLORY/ OF THE LIFE LAID DOWN/ IN THE GREAT WAR 1914–1919

The names of the fallen from the First World War are carved on two (south-east and north-west) faces of the pedestal; these have since been overlaid with bronze plaques also inscribed with the names. There are three plaques for the First World War; further plaques commemorate those who lost their lives in later conflicts.