Great Livermere War Memorial

Great Livermere War Memorial is a First World War memorial dating from 1920. It is located on a traffic island at the junction of The Street and Church Road, near the Grade II-listed Post Office and properties at 27 and 28 The Street.

The memorial consists of a small marble Latin cross set atop a tall, four-sided Portland stone plinth, which itself sits on a two-stepped square base. All lettering is incised and painted black. A monogram IHS, carved in relief with superimposed letters, is on the south face of the cross, while a crown carved in relief is on the north face. The cross rises from a narrow, square pedestal, inscribed with THANKS BE TO (west), GOD WHO GIVETH (south), and WAR DECLARED – 1ST AUG. 1914/ARMISTICE SIGNED 11TH NOV. 1918 (north).

The plinth has a cushion capital with a narrow cornice and a moulded foot. A narrow band encircles the upper section of the plinth and bears the inscription THINE IS THE KINGDOM (west), THE POWER AND THE GLORY (south), and FOR EVER AND EVER (east). The words BLESSED ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE LORD FOR THEIR GOD are incised into the north face of this band.

A marble plaque, with a curved top, is affixed to the south face of the plinth, standing on a moulded stone ledge, and inscribed with IN LOVING AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF (12 NAMES) WHO DIED FOR KING AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR. Another inscription is carved directly into the north face of the plinth, reading THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND AS A MEMORIAL OF THE GREAT WAR 1914 TO 1919. It also serves to keep in memory the men of Livermere who fell in that war and to gratefully acknowledge the patriotism of the other fifty-one local men who served their country in its time of peril. A crossed swords and lances motif, with a blank pennant curving between them, a royal monogram 'GR' overlaid in the middle, and a soldier’s cap, is carved in relief on the east face of the plinth. A crossed rifles motif with a laurel wreath is carved in relief on the west face.