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Weir

The war memorial to the men of the district of Weir in Lancashire who died in World War I stands on Deerplay Hill beside Burnley Road, looking out on to a panorama of the Pennines. It is a 10ft Scotch granite cross with raised lead lettering on a two-stepped base, surrounded by a terrace of locally mined crazy paving. It is approached by steps from an outer pathway, the whole being enclosed by a wall of stone.

Grass had grown up in the cracks between the crazy paving, the steps leading to the cross had become uneven and some of the walls around the memorial were in a poor state of repair. In June 2006 English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation gave a grant of £5200 towards work to lift the crazy paving, remove the grass and apply weedkiller, prepare the ground with hardcore and a fabric to stop the grass re-rooting and then re-laying the crazy paving. The stone steps were re-laid and re-pointed, and parts of the wall were re-laid too, or stone was replaced where necessary and joints were re-pointed. The memorial was also cleaned, and twenty missing letters were replaced.

On the horizontal piece of the cross is inscribed Pro Patria and below is the inscription

Erected to
the memory of
the men of
Weir and district
who fell in the
Great War
1914 – 1918
Lest we forget

The memorial was unveiled on Saturday 14th September 1935 by PC Richard Coates, the first man from Weir to join up to fight in the war. The ceremony was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bacup and many relatives and friends of the fallen. There had been a Great War memorial, a shrine of remembrance built into the wall at the Weir branch of the Bacup Co-operative Society, but it was felt that a larger memorial would be more fitting. The site was donated by the Irwell Springs Printing Company, one of the largest employers in the area, who also undertook the design, layout and workmanship and paid for the architecture and preparation of the terracing and surrounding wall. The memorial was built by the architect and Mr. Kilpatrick.

After the work was completed a rededication service was held on 10th November 2006 with the Mayor and Mayoress of Rossendale in attendance.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM670
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 18693

Incorrect previous reference WM1854

If you have a concern about this memorial please contact the Trust on conservation@warmemorials.org

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