War Memorial at St Peter-in-Thanet Church

War memorial. Constructed by mason W J Overton and dedicated in 1925.

MATERIALS & PLAN: Cornish granite cross and ceramic tiles set in a wall of knapped flint with ashlar dressings.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial stands adjacent to the Grade II*-listed Parish Church of St Peter the Apostle, between the south-east corner of the church and Church Street. It takes the form of a Calvary with a budded cross hooded by a small gablet. Immediately beneath the cross a four-sided capital is decorated with a different carving on each side: the crossed keys of St Peter; the Invicta horse of Kent; the coat of arms of England; and the coat of arms of the Anglican Diocese of Canterbury.

The cross is supported by a tapering, octagonal shaft in three segments that stands on a two-stepped, octagonal base with chamfered top edges and geometric moulding. The inscription on the front face of the base reads: AD/ 1914-1918. The base itself stands on a plain, tall octagonal plinth. Two courses of stone blocks have been added to the top of the plinth to incorporate a flower trough at some point between 1952 and 1960.

The base appears to have been cleaned more recently than the plinth, shaft and hooded cross; the granite is of a lighter colour.

Adjacent to the Calvary cross, a rectangular grouping of 20 ceramic tiles bearing the names of the fallen is incorporated into the boundary wall of the church, protected by a terracotta-tiled, pitched roof. The boundary wall itself is detached from the church and is constructed from knapped flint with ashlar quoins and copings. The tiles bear the principal dedicatory inscription: IN THE YEARS OF OUR LORD 1914-1918/ ALL THOSE OF THIS PARISH WHO IN THE GREAT WAR DIED FOR US AND/ FOR OUR PEACE ARE NAMED ON THIS MEMORIAL THAT THEY MAY BE/ REMEMBERED HERE TOGETHER HOWEVER FAR APART THEY LIE. Below these words 118 names are inscribed below the year in which they fell: 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1920.