Summary

First World War memorial, with additions for the Second World War.

Description

The memorial stands in Golden Hill Park, to the north of the Police Station and facing Crofts Bank Road. It takes the form of a tall granite Celtic cross. The front and rear faces of the cross are richly ornamented with intricate interlace patterns carved in low relief, overlain on the front face by a reversed sword. The cross rises from a tapering pedestal. That stands on a four-stepped base.

The principal dedicatory inscription on the front face of the pedestal reads IN LASTING MEMORY/ OF THOSE WHO MADE/ THE SUPREME SACRIFICE/ IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1918. Below this, on the front face of the deepest step of the base, the later dedication reads ALSO IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR/ 1939 – 1945. The rear on the pedestal is inscribed TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND COUNTRY with, to the side, LEST WE FORGET.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 23 November 2017.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. One such memorial was raised in Golden Hill Park, Urmston, as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by the members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

The memorial is not mapped on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 County Series map published in 1928, but was in position by the time the following edition was published in 1937. Following the Second World War a dedication was added to the memorial to commemorate the town’s losses in that conflict.

Reasons for Listing

Urmston Memorial Cross, which stands in Golden Hill Park, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on this local community, and the sacrifice it has made in the conflicts of the C20;
* Architectural interest: a richly ornamented memorial cross in the Celtic style.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q66477841

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)