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Ardeley

The war memorial at Ardeley in north east Hertfordshire is a shrine containing a statue of St George dressed as a medieval knight with a large shield. The base of the shrine is flint and brick, and the statue stands within a niche below a keystone. On either side of the niche are plaques with dedications and the names of the fallen inscribed upon them. The shrine has a gabled tile roof supported by wooden battens and a metal cross as a finial, with decoration attached to the shaft. It is situated within a memorial garden in front of trees, and behind shaped yew trees. The memorial garden is beside the churchyard of St Lawrence.

The original statue had been stolen from the shrine in 1999, and the congregation of the church wished to replace it and to make the letters inscribed on the memorial more legible. In 2002/3 English Heritage made a grant of £3,790 towards this work. Although there was some evidence that the statue had been painted when it was new, no one in the village (with a collective memory stretching back to 1947) could remember having seen it painted, and research into the history of the statue and comparison with other works of the sculptor and architect F C Eden did not give any clues about which colours should be used. Therefore the replacement statue was not painted.

After World War II the original commemoration panels were replaced and the new ones included dedications to and names of the fallen of the recent conflict. The panels read:

"Remember
before God
the Ardeley
men who fell
in the wars
of
1914 – 1919
and
1939 -1945

To
their dear
memory we
offer this
shrine and
garden"

The names commemorated are:

"1914 – 1919
Samuel Castle
Lawrence McNeil
James Doughton
Francis Oakley
Robert Livings
Bertie Holes
Frederick King
Mark Ruddock
Alfred Turner
Albert Bennett
Lawrence Pugh
Alfred Holes
Louis Chalkley

1939 – 1945
Hugh H. Carter
Leonard Dawson"

F C Eden also designed WM381 in Norfolk and WM439 in Wiltshire.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM1288
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 14543

Heritage Gateway listing record: 159506
More information about F C Eden

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

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