Richmond Borough War Memorial

The tall Staindrop stone memorial stands in Friary Gardens, positioned in front of the Grade I-listed Grey Friars Tower and within the scheduled area of the Franciscan Friary. It comprises a small equal-armed cross that rises from a moulded collar on an octagonal shaft. The shaft stands on three steps that are raised on a tall base, octagonal on plan. The base stands on a low step and is set into an offset retaining wall that flanks the cross. The capped retaining wall is in coursed rubble-stone.

The principal dedicatory inscription incised around the top of the base reads IN MEMORY OF/ THE RICHMOND/ MEN WHO GAVE/ THEIR LIVES IN/ THE GREAT WAR. A three-masted warship with billowing sails is carved in relief to the front face of the base: the names of the dead are incised into the other faces.

Two precisely similar rectangular bronze plaques are fixed to the flanking retaining wall, one either side of the memorial cross. Reading RICHMOND BOROUGH WAR MEMORIAL/ 1939 – 1945/ (NAMES)/ THEY DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE, they record the Second World War casualties.

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, 6 June 2017.