The Flyer
Sawbridgeworth Town Council News
On the 11th November 2018 and 100
years on from the end of The Great
War, the town of Sawbridgeworth will
stand again in honour of the fallen
from World War One and subsequent
wars at the town’s War Memorial that
is situated in the grounds of Great St
Mary’s Church. This year there will be
a much welcomed sense of euphoria
as we stand proudly in front of our
refurbished War Memorial.
The War Memorial is owned and is the
responsibility of Sawbridgeworth Town
Council, and with the exception of a
clean in 2004 the memorial remains
untouched since it was built in 1919.
It was the expressed wish of Barry
Hodges, who is a past councillor
and Mayor to assign a portion of
his charity fundraising proceeds in
2013 to 2014 to the War Memorial
refurbishment fund.
His main concern was that names on
the north facing panel that is made
from Portland stone had almost
disappeared as a result of over 90
years of weathering and natural
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deterioration. Following the
erection of the War Memorial,
we know that a Dedication and
Unveiling Ceremony took place in
the town and the Herts and Essex
Observer reported the following
in their Saturday December 27th
1919 publication:
Sir Charles Longmore’s Tribute to
Departed Heroes
Sawbridgeworth paid fi tting
honour to its gallant dead on
Sunday afternoon in the dedication of
the Memorial Cross which has been
erected in a singularly appropriate
position in the Parish Churchyard, to
the memory of the fallen.
The Memorial, artistically designed
and executed by Messrs J. Day and
Son, Bishop’s Stortford, is Gothic in
style, harmonising with the church. It
is 15ft. 9ins. in height, and the stone
used is Portland, with the exception
of the base, which is of York stone.
From the plinth on the west face there
rise three “pointed” sunk panels; the
centre panel contains the dedicatory
inscription, which reads as follows:-
“The Great War, 1914 – 1918.
Dedicated to the men of this parish,
who at the call of Honour and Duty
came forward in the hour of their
Country’s need to fi ght, to suffer, and
to die, that she might live”.
In 2014 a World War One
Commemoration group was set up and
led by offi cers at the Town Council.
Part of the project brief was to work
towards refurbishing the war memorial
and therefore a sub-committee was
formed. Members of this group are Jo
Sargant, Valerie Bright, Barry Hodges,
Barry Leslie and Richard Bowran,
it was felt that a mix of offi cers to
project manage, Valerie to co-ordinate
discussions with Great St Mary’s PCC
and the St Albans Diocese and our
two Barry’s to work on the names of
the fallen was a well balanced mix of
people to synchronise the project.
It has been a long process because it is
quite unusual to have a war memorial
that is situated in a church yard, and
for this reason no progress could be
made until an offi cial letter from the
Diocese giving us permission to carry
out the work was received. Liaison
with the War Memorials Trust and St
Albans Diocese was essential so that
as a group we could make informed
decisions, these discussions led to the
appointment of a preferred (from the
Dioceses) contractor Lodge and Sons
Limited of Dunmow to carry out the
work.
On Monday 10th September 2018
work began with Lodge and Sons
removing the north panel from the
memorial so that a complete new
panel could be cast and carved and
replaced in its entirety. The rest of the
refurbishment will entail replacing
capitols on all of the panels and re-
carving existing letters on the south
and west panels. The east panel
requires some substantial work, and
therefore a decision was made to
concentrate on this section in the year
2019 to 2020 when a new stream of
grant funding would be available to us.
Pl ease menti on ‘The Fl yer’ when respondi ng to adv e rti s e me nts