I visited Malvern Priory on 13 September 2019 and took the following images of the War Memorial inside.
The memorial may be described as :“Large wall-mounted stone tablet is flanked by stone figures of Mary with Child and crown (left) and St George (Right) Inscription and names are in the centre of the tablet.”
There are 43 names from the First World War (1914-1918) and 15 from the Second World War (1939-1945) commemorated on the Memorial. (Names may be seen at the IWM listing for the Memorial).
First World WarSecond World War
The Memorial was made by Messrs Caroe And Passmore and unveiled on 11 November 1920.
Outside the Priory is a wall mounted plaque with the the bases of the crosses as mentioned.
Unfortunately the legibility of the bases is poor with two exceptions:
Sedgeberrow is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England, about 4.8 km south of Evesham. I first spotted the war memorial from the bus en route to Evesham and in early November 2018 made a trip to photograph it.
The memorial is next to the church of “St Mary the Virgin” and may be found at 52.045395°, -1.965749° and it really comprises 2 entities: A Crucifix, described as “Crucifix in stone under a canopy set on three steps. The inscription is on the risers of the steps.”
On the exterior wall of the church is affixed another plaque, and it is dedicated to those who served in The First World War. If I read it correctly there are 3 sets of brothers on the two memorials, although that would require additional research.
Unfortunately I was not able to access the church to see whether there were any memorials within it, and there are no formal CWGC graves in the churchyard.
I visited the village of Overbury in Worcestershire on 20 October 2018 to photograph the war graves and war memorial in St Faith’s Churchyard. The war memorial is incorporated in the lych gate which makes it hard to photograph the inscriptions on the sides. There are 5 CWGC graves in the churchyard.
The Memorial commemorates the Men of Overbury and Conderton who gave their lives in the Great War (and the Second World War). There are 26 names from the First World War and 4 from the Second World War. (https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/32563)
The names on the memorial are shown below.
The Second World War plaque is much smaller.
The lych gate and war memorial in St Faith’s churchyard may be found at Google Earth co-ordinates 52.034918°, -2.064199°
Kemerton is a small village in a string of villages between Tewkesbury and Evesham. I visited the village to photograph the memorial on 20/10/2018.
The War Memorial is described as a “Latin Limestone Cross atop a tall shaft, which is on a 5 stage base. The design of the cross was adapted from an ancient village cross in the village of Laycock.” (https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/32460). It was unveiled on 9 January 1921, and was made by Sir Herbert Baker RA (possibly the architect?), Messrs E T Taylor of Tewkesbury and Mr A Stanley of Kemerton. It is a Grade II listed structure.
There are 20 names from the First World War and 7 from the Second World War on the memorial.
The memorial may be found at Google Earth co-ordinates: 52.033202°, -2.079959°.
St Anne’ Church in Chasetown has become the caretaker of 4 plaques that were sited at the colliery pits where many of the men from the area worked. They commemorate men from 2,3,8, and 9 pits who lost their lives in World War 1. The four plaques are mounted on the exterior wall of the church.
Unfortunately for most of the time that I was in Chasetown the church was surrounded in scaffolding and I only discovered these memorials towards the end of my stay so was never able to find out much from the people at the church.
Even though the plaques are in a good condition they are difficult to read.
To the Memory of the Men from No. 2 Pit who fell in the Great War
Thomas Brookes • John Rochelle • Enoch Hancox
William Deakin • Alfred Ross • George H Evans
William A Elson • Enoch Smith • Albert Fairfield
Alfred E Fisher • Charles E Williamson • Walter Reynolds
John Rushton • W Harrold Williamson • Reginald Lees
Ernest Craddock • Frederick Crutchley
To the Memory of the Men from No. 3 Pit who fell in the Great War
Harold Spencer • Thomas Lewis • Albert Lees
Bert Gozzard • Joseph Robinson • Arthur Wright
William Buckley • Joseph Witton • William Daker
Horace Derry • Thomas Downing • Charles Beach
Arthur Heath • Walter Evans • Henry Griffin
John Kelly • Thomas Rose • William Robinson
William Robinson • Percy Bradshaw • William Fellows
To the Memory of the Men from No. 8 Pit who fell in the Great War
Alfred Bradshaw • John Dolman • Richard Stevens
Frederick Bailey • William Longdon • Herbert Nicholls
Edward Bills • Albert Meaton • Enoch Bedow
William Day • Nonnie Pritchard
To the Memory of the Men from No. 9 Pit who fell in the Great War
Harry B Yardley • Roland Foster • Samuel Evans
Hubert Millard • Joseph W Roberts • Noah Lysons
Henry Duffield • Eli Bott • Bert Roper
I first spotted the church from the 41 bus going to Cheltenham and was always tempted to climb out and take a closer look. The building just has the impressive look about it. However, do not be deceived because it is no longer a church, and it has not been since after 2008. The building is situated on the south side of the Tewkesbury Road (Google Earth co-ordinates: 51° 54.525’N, 2° 5.445’W) . It is now sign boarded as being a part of “The Rock Youth Charity“. I took my first images of the church and War Memorial in June 2016.
The memorial can just be seen amongst the trees on the left of the photograph above. It was in a very poor condition and the names were almost illegible.
I went past there once more in October 2017 and there was light at the end of the tunnel as an official notice advised that the memorial was to be refurbished. In December 2017 work was underway and I made a mental note to get around there in the new year. That only happened at the end of May 2018 by which time the restoration was complete, the inscriptions and name panels were once again legible and the memorial was looking infinitely better than when I had last seen it.
More importantly it was now possible to read the names on it.
Alas, our English weather tends to do it’s deed in all seasons and parts of it were already taking on a green hew, but the main thing is that hopefully it will once again become a focus for commemoration and no longer a stone object hidden amongst the trees.
The principal war memorial in Evesham, Worcestershire, may be found in the Abbey park overlooking the River Avon.
The memorial is a wide one and it stands on the edge of a sloped embankment, so getting the whole memorial in from straight in front is almost impossible as the camera would no longer be able to see the lower half.
It consists of a curved limestone screen wall with a pedestal topped by a bronze sculpture of a soldier wearing his helmet at a jaunty angle and carrying a slung rifle with bayonet attached.
The soldier is the work of Henry Poole R.A and is a particularly good one because it really could be the poster figure for the Old Contemptibles that held the line in the opening months of the First World War.
There are four name panels (2 per side, World War 1 on the 2 inner panels), commemorating the men from Evesham that fought and died in the First and Second World Wars, and commemorative inscriptions. It was unveiled on 7 August 1921. Google Earth co-ordinates for the memorial are: 52.090656°, -1.946112°.
The Memorial was restored in 2014 following a grant from War Memorials Trust.
Not too far away between the Churches of St Lawrence and All Saints there is another War Memorial that could be easily overlooked. I believe these are called Calvarys.
The inscription is not very legible but there were poppy wreaths against the pedestal so the memorial is recognised.
When I moved to Tewkesbury in 2015 it was inevitable that my camera lens would be on the lookout for churches, cemeteries and war memorials. The Parish Church of St Nicholas in the village of Ashchurch being the one church closest to where I was living at the time. I made two visits to the church and once I had done those I put it out of my mind and concentrated on other things. However, I was unaware that there was a war memorial associated with Ashchurch and this past week I realised that I had missed out.
St Nicholas Parish Church
The War Memorial may be found on Google Earth at 51.997611°, -2.105686°. and it is not too difficult to find it, you literally follow the cycle path until you find St Nicholas church, then cross the road and there you are.
Remembrance Day was almost 2 months ago and there are still wreaths at the memorial. The main inscription reads:
There are three panels with names from both World Wars, 24 from the First World War and two from the 2nd. It will be interesting to see how many of them are buried in the graveyard of St Nicholas Church just over the road. I do know that there is a memorial to Major Bertram Cartland in the grounds of Tewkesbury Abbey.
The War Memorial in the village of Prestbury, Gloucestershire may be found at Google Earth co-ordinates 51.913794°, -2.042938°.
The memorial has plaques commemorating men from the village that served in both World Wars. There are a total of 41 names on the memorial and these are available at Remembering.org
The Parish Church of St Mary’s in close to the memorial and there are 5 casualties buried in the churchyard with one private memorial. The church has it’s own war memorial inside it.
The church and memorial are roughly 1 kilometre away from Prestbury Cemetery, that has the Gloucesters Memorial in it, as well as burials from both World Wars.
