Harleston War Memorial

First World War memorial, erected 1920, with later additions for the Second World War.

MATERIALS: Cornish grey granite.

DESCRIPTION: Harleston war memorial is prominently located within a modest roadside memorial green to the E of Broad Street, Harleston and adjacent to the Church of St John (Grade II). The memorial faces W/NW onto Broad Street and is accessed from the public footpath by a set of two steps flanked by two low granite posts. It stands centrally on a cruciform-plan concrete path flanked by freestanding timber benches. There is a modern flagpole behind the memorial.

The memorial itself comprises a tall decorated cross in the Celtic style, set atop a tapering rectangular-plan monolith plinth standing on a low-level single-stone base. The cross shaft rises from the plinth having a high degree of decorative relief carving to its front composed of dot motifs encircled by, and interlaced with, stylised snakes and foliage forming an intricate design. The cross head has a large central raised boss with additional, but less pronounced, single bosses to each arm, the top arm of the cross head also features zoomorphic figures - possibly lambs - beneath which are the heads of four preying serpents or snakes. The cross ring has knotwork carving. The plinth is of rough-hewn granite having large smooth-dressed rectangular fields to each of its four sides which carry the inscriptions in black lettering.

The main dedicatory inscription is to the front and reads:

TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY/ OF THE/ REDENHALL HARLESTON WORTWELL MEN/ WHO FELL IN THE WAR/ 1914-1918. / AND THE WAR 1939-1945. / FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.

The remaining sides of the base record the fallen of the First World War: (NAMES).

A granite slab taking the form of a wide scrolled parchment, has been added to the front of the memorial's plinth, sitting atop a narrow ledge formed by the memorial's base, it records the 24 names of the fallen from the Second World War.

A small additional slate plaque has been attached to the front of the memorial, on a smooth-dressed section at the base of the cross shaft, this reads: NORFOLK'S FIRST VC / PTE HENRY WARD / 78TH REGIMENT / 1823-1867.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 6 June 2017.