Boldre War Memorial, Church of St John the Baptist

The Boldre War Memorial, located at the Church of St John the Baptist, is a First World War memorial cross dating from around 1920. It is made of granite and features a moulded cross with a tapering square shaft, which is set on a square plinth atop a stepped base. The memorial stands approximately 3 meters tall.

On the bottom of the west face of the shaft, there is an inscription in applied lead lettering that reads: ‘JESU / MERCY’. The plinth bears the inscription: ‘IN MEMORIAM / 1914 1918 / “THEIR NAME / LIVETH FOR EVERMORE”’. The north face displays an inscribed metal plaque listing the names of 29 local men who lost their lives during the First World War. The south face is inscribed with ‘1939 1945’, along with a plaque that records the names of 18 soldiers who fell in the Second World War. The east face has a plaque that expresses gratitude for ‘THOSE BRITISH AND ALLIED SERVICE PERSONNEL WHOSE LIVES WERE LOST / WHILST SERVING WITH MILITARY FORCES ON STATIONS IN OR AROUND THIS / PARISH AND WHOSE GRAVES ARE IN THE NORTH WEST CORNER OF THE / CHURCHYARD. ALSO VICE ADMIRAL LE HOLLAND CB TOGETHER WITH 1416 / OFFICERS AND MEN OF HIS FLAGSHIP HMS HOOD WHICH SANK ON 24TH MAY / 1941 WHOSE MEMORIAL IS WITHIN THIS CHURCH’.