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Carlton le Moorland's War Memorial [Photograph shown in Village Views]
Letter to the Editor
10 November 2004
Dear Sir
I have been surprised to find that a number of residents who have lived here for several years were not aware that the village has a war memorial. It is in fact the lychgate at the main entrance to the parish churchyard. The names of those who were killed are recorded on brass plaques mounted under the roof, on both the front and the back. Though they are faded, they can still be read, and there are possibly relatives or friends still living in the area. The lychgate memorial was provided by the village in 1920 to carry the names of those lost in the First World War; the Second World War plaque was added after 1945. The tiled roof of the lychgate has, regrettably, been vandalised several times in recent years, and the Parish Council has had it repaired. It is also sad that people can live in a small village and not know where the war memorial is, indicating perhaps that those who gave their lives did indeed give them in vain. Derek Oakes Carlton le Moorland
Note: Carlton le Moorland's War Memorial is not the usual stone monument or bronze statue that is often the form that war memorials take, so it is not surprising that our beautiful lychgate is not at first sight seen to be a monument; only on closer inspection can the plaques be seen and the inscriptions read. Readers would perhaps not all draw the same stark conclusion as Mr Oakes. There is a further brass war memorial inside the church, re-sited from the former Wesleyan Chapel. The Editor
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