'Enormous' effort to restore village's unique war memorial begins

The Albrighton War Memorial in Newport Road has stood since 1920 and now holds the names of those from the area who fought in the First and Second World Wars.

It is unusual as a war memorial in that it depicts Christ on a cross carved from olive wood, beneath a curved canopy.

A working group was set up in January 2022 to organise and liaise on the work required for the refurbishment project.

Albrighton Parish Council contracted Lupiae Architecture & Conservation to oversee the £75,000 project to restore the memorial and rework the landscape surrounding it.

The council has said that the structure and iron fencing have now been removed, and work to refurbish the memorial is underway and is expected to take eight to 12 weeks.

A spokesperson for the parish council said: “This project has been an enormous piece of work to ensure that the care has been taken to restore the memorial and preserve the historical structure for years to come.

“We are pleased that the final stages of the project are coming into fruition, with the final stages being landscaping and reinstalling the memorial structure back to its original place.

“Should any member of the public wish to donate to the restoration project, Albrighton Parish Council has set up a PayPal account for raising funds where all the monies will go towards this project.”

More information can be found at albrightonparishcouncil.gov.uk/services/albrighton-war-memorial.