Harefield War Memorial

War memorial. 1921 designed by Frederic Herbert Mansford. Names of the fallen of the Second World War were added in 1948. C21 addition of memorial stones to VC recipients.

MATERIALS: Portland stone.

DESCRIPTION: situated at the south-eastern corner of Harefield village green overlooking the pond, the memorial takes the form of a 10m high obelisk, standing on a plinth with a two-tiered base. The north-east and south-west faces of the obelisk bear the dates 1914 and 1918 respectively. Each face of the plinth is adorned with a laurel leaf swag. Below these, the north-west face of the plinth bears the inscription ’TO THE/ GLORIOUS/ DEAD’ with the other three sides bearing the names of the 79 fallen. The names of the 34 fallen of the Second World War are inscribed on the base of the north-west face of the obelisk itself.

The memorial is surrounded by a rectangular area of stone paving slabs with four panels of pebble cobbles and a flight of six stone steps descending the pond bank. The steps are flanked at the top by a pair of low stone piers. The paving to the north-west of the obelisk includes two stones engraved with the names of the recipients of the Victoria Cross, Privates Cecil John Kinross and Robert Edward Ryder added in 2014. These include depictions of the Victoria Cross, names of the regiments and the dates the actions for which the award was made took place.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 16 February 2017.