Exton War Memorial Cross and Tablet

Heritage listing

Details First World War memorial cross and tablet, 1922. MATERIALS: memorial cross: Clipsham stone; metal sculpture (replacing bronze original). Memorial tablet: Clipsham stone; Hopton wood stone. DESCRIPTION: The Exton war memorial cross and tablet are located in a memorial garden along Oakham Road at the point where it adjoins The Green. The tablet is set into the former boundary wall of the Grade II-registered Exton Park (the wall now borders the approach to the village hall), and both memorials are in close proximity to the Grade II-listed buildings the Old School House and the Fox and Hounds Hotel and Stables. The memorial cross is of Clipsham stone and takes the form of a Calvary cross; to the south-east face is a metal sculpture of the Crucifixion beneath a stone canopy. A small bronze plate bearing the monogram INRI is affixed above the sculpture to the vertical cross arm. The cross crowns an octagonal shaft with moulded collar and terminates in a square foot with inverted chamfered stops. The shaft rises from a square plinth with moulded upper corners, surmounting a two-stepped base; the upper step is square while the lower step is octagonal. The whole stands on an octagonal stone platform with a flat stone cap; the platform accommodates a prayer step to the south-east face. The plinth bears the inscriptions in relief-carved lettering. The principal inscription starts on the south-east face, and reads IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST/ AMEN/ CHARLES 3RD EARL OF GAINSBOROUGH/ AND MARY HIS WIFE SET UP THIS CROSS/ AND THE TABLET NEARBY IN MEMORY OF/ THEIR BELOVED SON ROBERT THEIR NEPHEWS/ ROGER AND MAURICE AND OTHERS THEIR. The inscription continues of the north-east face and reads FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS IN EXTON/ AND WHITWELL WHO DIED FOR KING AND/ COUNTRY IN

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.