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Germoe

The war memorial in the Cornish village of Germoe is a wheel cross on a plinth on a base of three tall steps. The memorial is made of large blocks of locally quarried granite. There is lead lettering on a polished inset on the top step and on the front face of the plinth. The memorial has a commanding view on the top of Tregonning Hill, from the Lizard round to Penzance. St Ives Bay can be seen across to the north. The memorial is approached by a stone apron.

As the position of the memorial means that it faces the full force of the Atlantic gales the lettering and joints had deteriorated. There was lichen growing on the memorial and one corner of the apron had collapsed. In January 2006 English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation gave a grant of £500 towards work to clean the cross and the apron with water, to repair the corner of the apron with the original stone, to rake out and re-point the base and the apron and to re-paint, and if necessary re-fix, the lead lettering.

The inscription on the face of the plinth reads

To the glory of God
and in revered and honoured memory
of the brave men of St Germoe
who gave their lives for king and country
1914 – 1918
Ernest Andrew
Leonard Laity
Ernest Richards
Sampson Richards

Lest we forget

The dedication added after World War II reads

Also in memory of those who
fell in the war 1939 – 1945
Ervin Andrews
Stanley Johns
William Courtney White

The names of the designer and mason and the date of dedication are all unknown. The first written reference to the memorial is in 1922, and we do know that the Duke of Leeds presented the land on which the memorial sits to the Parish Council in April 1924. In February 1951 the memorial was cleaned and the names of three fallen of World War II added.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM1633
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 9371

More information about Tregonning Hill (including panoramic pictures of the memorial)

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

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