Upminster War Memorial

The memorial stands in a paved enclosure alongside Corbets Tey Road and at the eastern end of the churchyard of the Church of St Laurence (Grade I). The enclosure was originally fenced to the front (this is not of special interest). The memorial comprises a Portland stone Celtic cross standing on a tapering, square, plinth. The plinth is raised on a three-stepped York stone base. The front face of the cross is decorated with intricate interlace carving and, to the rear, a reversed sword carved in low relief.

The faces of the plinth bear dark stone plaques. The principal dedicatory inscription to the front reads TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN/ PROUD AND GRATEFUL/ MEMORY OF THE PEOPLE OF/ UPMINSTER/ WHO FELL IN THE/ TWO WORLD WARS/ 1914 – 1918/ 1939 – 1945/ AND SUBSEQUENT CONFLICTS/ THEY WERE A WALL UNTO US/ BOTH BY NIGHT AND DAY/ (1ST SAMUEL. XXV.16)

The plaque on the north face reads WORLD WAR 2/ FORCES (NAMES). That to the west reads (NAMES)/ MERCHANT/ SEAMAN/ (NAMES)/ CIVILIANS/ (NAMES). The south-facing plaque reads WORLD WAR I/ (NAMES). On the front face of the bottom step of the base is carved SACRED ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF/ THOSE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1939 – 1945/ AND SUBSEQUENTLY.

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, 16 February 2017.