Work expected to be completed on £40,000 war memorial in Bamburgh by end of summer

Bamburgh is having a new war memorial sculpted at a cost of £40,000.
The Tommy silhouette in place at Bamburgh war memorial.The Tommy silhouette in place at Bamburgh war memorial.
The Tommy silhouette in place at Bamburgh war memorial.

The new monument is being made now and is expected to be in place by the end of the summer.

“Hopefully, it will be in situ by the end of September,” said parish council chairman Barbara Brook. “We want to get it done before the weather breaks down at the end of the summer.

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“We’ve seen some pictures of the work in progress. It’s a cross with the figure of Jesus so it’s a complicated piece of work.

Repairs to Bamburgh war memorial in 2010.Repairs to Bamburgh war memorial in 2010.
Repairs to Bamburgh war memorial in 2010.

“We will probably have a rededication service on Remembrance Sunday in November and we’ll be inviting the Army, Navy and others.”

The original war memorial dated from 1920 with alterations following the Second World War. Over the years, the stone of the memorial eroded and in 2010 some renovation work was carried out.

Unfortunately, the stone which was used to repair the memorial proved to be even less durable and the inscription rapidly became unreadable and the surface treatment, meant to protect the original stone, actually caused it to erode further

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The parish council, in conjunction with the War Memorial Trust, decided that a replacement was necessary and a decision was made to have a replica carved. To do this, the memorial has had to be removed and taken to the sculptor’s workshop to be copied.

The war memorial beneath the castle at Bamburgh in 2014.The war memorial beneath the castle at Bamburgh in 2014.
The war memorial beneath the castle at Bamburgh in 2014.

While the memorial is missing, it was decided to replace it with a There But Not There Tommy figure, widely used to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War.

Coun Brook said: “The parish council is grateful to the War Memorial Trust, which is funding 75 per cent of the total cost of replacing the memorial, around £40,000.

“The rest has come from donations and support from various organisations such as the Bamburgh Castle Estate and the Bamburgh Heritage Trust which contributed towards the cost of the Tommy figure. We were pleased about that because we didn’t want that carving in the castle wall, where the monument sits, to be empty all summer.”