Ashton Under Lyne War Memorial

Ashton-under-Lyne suffered heavy losses during the First World War, with over 1,500 men killed. A memorial scheme proposed in 1919 was abandoned due to cost, and a new design was commissioned from local architect Percy Howard and Manchester-based sculptor John Ashton Floyd, who also collaborated on the Waterloo and Taunton district memorial in Ashton. The memorial was funded by public subscription at a cost of £8,000. During the ceremony, a wooden viewing platform collapsed, injuring around 40 people.

The memorial is a neoclassical composition constructed in Portland stone. It stands on a three-tier stepped platform and features a tall square shaft supported on a pedestal with a moulded plinth. The shaft is decorated with pedimented pilasters, stylised palm-leaf friezes, and fluted detailing.|group=note}} supporting a collapsed soldier. Victory clasps the soldier's wrist as he raises an inverted sword of honour and holds a laurel wreath. Surrounding the figures is an assemblage of weaponry and equipment representing the three armed forces, including an aircraft propeller (Royal Air Force), ropes and an anchor (Royal Navy), and a tank gear-wheel, artillery guns, rifles, and steel helmets…