Reigate and Redhill War Memorial

The Reigate and Redhill War Memorial stands on a small grassed area, formerly a village green known as Shaw’s Corner, at the junction of three roads, facing north. The memorial is composed of an allegorical bronze sculpture by Richard Reginald Goulden, mounted on a square granite plinth set on two steps.

The bronze sculpture depicts a man striding through thick, thorny brambles, carrying a small child in his right arm while holding aloft a flaming torch with his left. The upper, square plinth bears a principal inscription in applied bronze, which was altered after the Second World War. Originally it read “IN MEMORY OF / MEN OF REIGATE / AND REDHILL WHO / FOUGHT AND GAVE / THEIR LIVES IN / THE GREAT WAR / 1914 – 1919,” it was changed to “IN MEMORY OF / MEN AND WOMEN / OF THIS BOROUGH / WHO GAVE THEIR / LIVES IN THE / TWO WORLD WARS / 1914 – 1919 / 1939 – 1945.” The other three sides of the plinth feature the words “COURAGE,” “HONOUR,” and “SELF-SACRIFICE” in bronze inscription.

The two-stepped stone base has a shaped upper step, which would be square were it not for sloping, chamfered corner pieces. A bronze relief plaque is set into the front face of the upper step, reading: “THE BRONZE REPRESENTS THE TRIUMPHANT / STRUGGLE OF MANKIND AGAINST THE DIFFICULTIES / THAT BESET HIM IN THE PATH OF LIFE. / SHIELDING AND BEARING ONWARD THE CHILD, / THE FIGURE HOLDS ALOFT THE SYMBOL OF / SELF-SACRIFICE TO LIGHT THE WAY. / THE FLAMING CROSS IS USED TO INDICATE / THE SUFFERING ENDURED BY MEN IN THE WAR. / FLAMES CONSUME THE FLESH. / THE SPIRIT IS UNCONQUERABLE.”