Spitalfields Christ Church War Memorial

First World War memorial, erected c1920, by monumental masons Haile & Son Ltd of London.

MATERIALS: rough-hewn grey granite with applied lead lettering.

DESCRIPTION: Spitalfields Christ Church War Memorial stands in the gardens to the south of Christ Church, Commercial Street, Spitalfields. It is located in the southern section of Christ Church Gardens next to a path which leads from Commercial Street to the west. The memorial cross faces north comprising a roughly hewn Latin cross atop a conical cairn-type base of near equal height, the whole standing approximately 12ft tall and being approximately 4ft wide at the base of the cairn. The base is composed of blocks of rough-hewn granite brought to courses and set on a similarly battered flush plinth course of pecked granite. Individual blocks, distributed about the circumference of the cairn, carry the 81 names and ranks of the fallen in lead lettering, these being applied within rectangular smooth-dressed fields. Not every block carries a name. The base of the cairn records the maker: 'HAILE & SON LTD, BOSTON RD NW’.

The memorial's main inscription, also in applied lead lettering, is found on the horizontal arm of the cross, on its north face and reads:

‘GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN / THIS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS / LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS’

Beneath the main inscription, on the north side of the memorial towards the bottom of the cross and near to the top of the cairn, are the dates '1914 / 1918' in applied lead lettering. This is also repeated on the south side of the memorial.