Stoke and Wexham War Memorial

First World War memorial taking the form of a pavilion housing a pump supplying a drinking fountain and horse trough. Erected by Sir Bernard Oppenheimer (1866-1921), date and designer not known.

MATERIALS: stone-coloured faience blocks by Doulton and Co of Lambeth. Clay tile roof and clay tile and stone floor. Granite memorial plaque. Cast-iron pump.

DESCRIPTION: a neo-classical octagonal pavilion with eight Greek Doric columns supporting the entablature. The frieze is decorated with tryglyphs and there is a deep overhanging cornice. Four of the columns are free standing with the other four engaged with low walls occupying the three western sides of the memorial. The higher, westernmost, wall incorporates a rectangular horse trough on the exterior and an arched drinking fountain with a basin on the interior. The clay-tiled roof has a stone ball finial. Inside the pavilion is a (now incomplete) cast-iron flywheel and crank water pump, probably by Joseph Evans of Wolverhampton. This stands on a clay tile and stone slab floor.

A granite plaque on the wall adjoining the horse trough is inscribed: IN MEMORY OF/ THE MEN OF/ STOKE & WEXHAM/ WHO FELL IN THE/ GREAT WAR 1914 -1918./ ERECTED BY SIR BERNARD OPPENHEIMER BART. An additional stone plaque above the trough records the restoration of the memorial by the parish council on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 27 February 2018.