Cockbrook War Memorial, Ashton-under-Lyne

Site

Stamford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, between Beaufort Road and Arundel Street.

Description

An obelisk, about 5ft tall, and made from shiny black granite. At the top, it bears the inscription (in gold lettering) “In proud memory of the men and women who gave their lives at the call of their country in the two world wars and in the years since 1945. We will remember them.”

At the bottom of the monument, two poppy sprays are engraved in white.

History

The memorial was first used on Remembrance Sunday (14 November) 2010 when the ceremony was led by the Rev Jo Farnworth of near-by St Gabriel’s Church and St Michael’s ward representative Cllr Bill Harrison laid a wreath.

Cllr Harrison said: “The idea came from the late Dorothy Parry, a former St Michael’s councillor, and it has taken some years of hard work and fund-raising to get the memorial erected. Dorothy was concerned that there was no public monument to record Cockbrook’s sacrifice.

“We’re very pleased with it. We have plans to erect a low wall around the memorial when the money is available and we would also like to see names placed on it.”

The names of many of Cockbrook’s war dead are recorded on the pulpit at St Gabriel’s.