East Cowes War Memorial

A First World War memorial of 1920, with later inscriptions from the Second World War.   MATERIALS: granite.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial faces south-east and is located within the churchyard of the Church of St James, East Cowes. It takes the form of a granite wheel-head cross with a tapered shaft on a rough-hewn, granite base with sloping sides. A recessed panel on the front face of the plinth reads: ‘ TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN MEMORY OF THE MEN/ FROM THIS PARISH/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR KING AND COUNTRY/ IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1919/ AND THE WORLD WAR 1939 – 1945/ GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THIS/ THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS’. The names of those who fell in the First World War are inscribed on recessed panels on the sides of the plinth while the names of those from the Second World War are inscribed on a recessed panel within a wedge-shaped stone, which is attached to the front face of the plinth.