East Grinstead War Memorial

A war memorial designed by E G Gillick and unveiled in 1922.

The memorial comprises a hexagonal section Clipsham stone column on a tall plinth mounted on a stone base, and is approximately 7.5m high. The top of the column is carved with the date 1914 and is surmounted by an orb and gilt bronze cross. Of the six panels on the plinth, five list 205 local men who lost their lives in the First World War. The sixth panel, facing the High Street, bears the town's arms, of five feathers, and is inscribed " IN GRATITUDE TO THE/ MEN OF EAST GRINSTEAD/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES/ FOR THEIR COUNTRY/ DURING THE WAR OF /1914-1918/ THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED/ BY THE INHABITANTS THAT/ FUTURE GENERATIONS/ MAY VALUE THE FREEDOM/ FOR WHICH THEY DIED/ AND THAT THEIR NAMES/ MAY BE KEPT IN/ HONOURED/ MEMORY" A smaller rectangular panel added to the plinth commemorates those who died in later conflicts. It reads "ALSO IN COMMEMORATION / OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THE 2ND WORLD WAR / 1939 – 1945 / AND SUBSEQUENT CONFLICTS".

A commemorative paving stone laid at the base of the memorial on 23 August 2014 honours Sidney Godley, born in East Grinstead, the first non-commissioned soldier to receive the Victoria Cross in the First World War. It reads "PRIVATE/ SIDNEY GODLEY/ROYAL FUSILIERS/(CITY OF LONDON REGT)/23RD AUGUST 1914"

The memorial is set within a circular York Stone paved base reached by steps between two raised flower beds with retaining sandstone walls. The original walls on either side of the memorial's base have been extended at a later date to create the landscaped beds. The later wall extensions and flower beds* are not included in the listing.

• Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

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.