War Memorial

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Amendment on 26 June 2023 to update the address, description and reformat the text to current standards.

SO8932 859-1/6/341

TEWKESBURY CHURCH STREET THE CROSS War Memorial

(Formerlylisted as HE CROSS War Memorial)

27/07/73

GV II

War memorial. c1920. Limestone. A tapered octagonal shaft with moulded capital and a cross, on an octagonal plinth cut through by a square base with diagonal buttresses at centres of the sides, carrying four pinnacles. All set on a broad three-step hexagonal base, the lowest step with nosing, on a final hexagonal platform which has been rounded, and protected by six stone bollards. The cross carries a central shield of arms, and the base has a series of six bronze plates with the names of the fallen inscribed, dated 1914-1919 (sic). A further plate has been added covering the years 1939-1945.

The plate reads ‘ALSO IN HONOUR OF THOSE THO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNRY DURING THE 1939-45 WAR’ and ‘ALSO IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY IN OTHER CONFLICTS: R. D. SODEN N.IRELAND 1972.’

The memorial is at the meeting of the town's three main streets, previously occupied by a medieval cross, demolished in 1650, and later by a market hall: Dyde (1798) notes that on the spot "..... there was until recently a Tolsey or Town Hall .... very old and of mean appearance", which was said to be in the way of traffic. The new Town Hall (qv) in High Street replaced this former building in 1788.

(Dyde W: History and Antiquities of Tewkesbury: Tewkesbury: 1790-).

Listing NGR: SO8927632673

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, 10 January 2017 and 4 January 2022.