Sunbury War Memorial

First World War memorial, with an addition following the Second World War, unveiled 1920.

MATERIALS: a Portland stone cross incorporating marble on the plinth, standing on a York stone base.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial is located on the west side of Green Street in front of recreation grounds laid out in the early C20. It is a cross with a square plinth, and it stands on an octagonal base of two steps. The cross has capped arms and a crusader sword carved on the front, with the blade running down the top of the slightly tapered shaft; at its tip there is a break in the shaft, the bottom half of which has shallow fielded panels. The shaft rises from a square base with a moulded laurel wreath on each face. The plinth has a moulded dentil cornice, a stepped, ogee moulded base, and each side has an inscribed marble panel and angle pilasters enriched with moulded palm fronds.

The front face is inscribed ‘1914 – 1919 / THIS MEMORIAL / COMMEMORATES THOSE SUNBURY MEN / WHO, AT THE CALL OF KING AND COUNTRY / LEFT ALL THAT WAS DEAR TO THEM, ENDURED / HARDNESS, FACED DANGER, AND FINALLY / PASSED OUT OF THE SIGHT OF MEN BY THE / PATH OF DUTY AND SELF SACRIFICE, / GIVING UP THEIR OWN LIVES THAT OTHERS / MIGHT LIVE IN FREEDOM. / “LET THOSE WHO COME AFTER SEE TO IT / THAT THEIR NAME BE NOT FORGOTTEN.”’. And on a table below: ‘TO COMMEMORATE / THOSE WHO FELL / 1939 – 1945 / AND IN / SUBSEQUENT ENGAGEMENTS’. The plaques on the other three faces are inscribed with the names of the fallen, ordered by surname, followed by initial and rank.

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, 5 December 2016.