War Memorial to S of Skenfrith Castle

Location

Mounted on the roadside approximately halfway between the S end of the village street and Skenfrith Bridge.

Exterior

A War Memorial cross mounted on a walled podium which doubles as a horse trough. Commemorates the Great War 1914-19. Constructed of limestone and sandstone. The podium is rectangular in plan, almost 2m high, presenting a symmetrical tripartite front to the road: a central wall incorporating the horse trough, flanked by plain entrance openings to quadrantal flights of winding steps leading to a platform in front of the cross, which is mounted on the centre of the rear wall. The central wall, which has broad pilasters, and the terminal piers to right and left of the entrances, have high chamfered plinths and flat copings. The horse trough, incorporated in the plinth of the central wall, is a semi-circular arched recess with a hollow-chamfered surround and a large panelled keystone, protecting a shallow convex-fronted bowl at ground level. The cross on the back wall has a tapered square plinth on a deep moulded base, each side of the plinth displaying a moulded and shouldered lettered panel, and a tall octagonal shaft finished as a wheel cross. Lettering on the panel on the S front states that the memorial was erected by the parishioners, and names 9 men of Skenfrith who made the supreme sacrifice (5 of them officers, of whom 3 had served in the RAF including a Captain R.Thomas, Croix de Guerre). Very unusually, the panels on the E and W sides name "those who served and returned" (20 on the W side, 22 on the E). The panel on the rear commemorates World War II, listing only 3 names.

Reason for designation

Included as a good memorial, with group value with Skenfrith Castle and Skenfrith Mill.