Great Thurlow War Memorial

The Great Thurlow war memorial was erected in April 1921, with later inscriptions commemorating the Second World War. It was designed by Rev W A Wickham and is constructed from granite stone. The memorial is square in plan and stands approximately 3.5 metres high. It takes the form of a Latin cross with an octagonal, tapered shaft set on a low, square corniced plinth and base. A crenellated crown featuring fleur-de-lys motifs interspersed with the Greek Christogram symbol ‘IHS’ is carved in relief at the collar of the tapered shaft, beneath the cross. An inscription on the east face reads ‘REMEMBER IN CHRIST THE MEN OF THIS PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR / LIVES DURING THE GREAT WAR, A.D. 1914-1918’, and includes the names of five local men who fell in the conflict. A further inscription was added to the south face of the plinth after the Second World War to commemorate two additional fallen soldiers.

The memorial is prominently situated on Withersfield Road, between the junctions with Wratting Road and Bury Road, in front of the Great Thurlow Reading Room, built in 1903. It is centrally placed on a slanted forecourt and is bordered to the south and east by a low curved brick wall supporting a cast-iron railing. Opposite the memorial, on the east side of Withersfield Road, is a 17th-century former public house, the Rose and Crown (listed Grade II). Other listed buildings at the Withersfield Road junction include a 17th-century timber-framed cottage and a 17th-century house, both also listed Grade II.