Stanway War Memorial

MATERIALS: the memorial is made of local North Cotswolds stone from the Jackdaw Quarry on the Stanway House estate. The plinth is of sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial consists of a bronze sculpture by Alexander Fisher of St George slaying a falling dragon, which coils around the upper part of a circular section stone column bearing relief carvings of a shield of England, and a pilgrim’s badge (shell).

The design of the column is thought to have been by Sir Philip Sidney Stott. Mr Grimmett of Laverton was in charge of building. The execution of the inscription and the decorative reliefs towards the upper part of the column was by Eric Gill.

The column has a square-sectioned collar towards the upper part, which bears inscriptions of the theatres of war in which the Stanway men were killed. The column stands atop a square plinth with moulded cornice and raised inscription panels around the sides (which are incised) bearing names.

The plinth is set upon a four-stepped base, indented to give the impression of representing a Tudor rose.

On the right side of the square-section collar near the top of the column: FRANCE. On the reverse of the square-section collar near the top of the column: EGYPT AND/ GALLIPOLI. Front face of plinth: MEN OF STANWAY/ 1914 - 1918/ FOR A TOMB/ THEY HAVE AN ALTAR/ FOR LAMENTATION/ MEMORY/ AND FOR PITY/ PRAISE (from the Greek poet Simonides). Right side of plinth: (six names) and the left side: (five names). Reverse of plinth: FOR YOUR/ TO-MORROW/ WE GAVE/ OUR TO-DAY (from J Maxwell Edmunds’ Inscriptions Suggested for War Memorials HMSO 1919).

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 10 January 2017.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 09/11/2016