Box and Ditteridge War Memorial

Heritage listing

Details The memorial stands at the centre of a small garden at the junction of the Bath Road (A4) and the Devizes road (A365). The garden is enclosed by a stone wall with pillars on the north and east sides, and posts at street level on the south side, that carry spiked chains. The memorial is carved from local limestone. The memorial comprises a very tall octagonal cross standing on an elaborate plinth in two stages, with an octagonal three-stepped base. The heavily moulded foot of the cross shaft stands on the upper stage, a corniced pedestal, square on plan, with volutes at the corners. The lower stage, octagonal on plan and also corniced, has eight inset limestone panels recording commemorated names. Two of the panels retain their original incised inscriptions, whilst the remaining six panels were replaced in or after 1936 as weather had damaged the original inscriptions. The principal dedicatory inscription on the western panel reads ERECTED A.D. 1920, BY PUBLIC/ SUBSCRIPTION./ IN EVER GRATEFUL MEMORY/ OF/ THE MEN FROM BOX AND DITTERIDGE,/ WHO DURING THE GREAT WAR 1914-18,/ LEFT ALL THAT WAS DEAR TO THEM/ AT THE CALL OF DUTY,/ TO ENDURE HARDSHIP, TO FACE DANGER,/ AND GAVE THEIR LIVES/ FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE WORLD. A further inscription running around the foot of the cross shaft reads THEIR/ NAME/ LIVETH/ FOR/ EVERMORE. Three bronze panels on the upper stage of the plinth commemorate the 18 parishioners who died during the Second World War.

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.