Hartwell War Memorial at St John's Church

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 19 Aug 2018

Hartwell has two war memorials, arising from a difference of opinion within the village about the most appropriate form of remembrance. A wooden cenotaph near the centre of the village was unveiled on Forest Road in 1921 and replaced in the 1950s due to deterioration of the original (https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/134367/ War Memorials Online), is listed at Grade II (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1041636 Historic England). This stone memorial is also Grade II-listed (Historic England List entry Number: 1433013 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1433013 ). It was unveiled on Saturday 4 December 1920. The memorial stands close to the south door of the church of St John the Baptist (Grade II*). It is in the form of a limestone cross approximately 3 metres high. Its head, of the St James pattern, is set on an octagonal shaft rising from a short, square, plinth which stands on a single-stage octagonal base. Slate panels are set in to the plinth. One is inscribed: TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE MEN OF THIS PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR GOD AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918. Two other panels record the names of the fallen, while a fourth in the same style records the names of those who fell in the Second World War. See Image] for a close look at this memorial.

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