War Memorials, Thelwall Cheshire

Location: Thelwall, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom
Surnames/tags: Thelwall_Cheshire War_Memorials

The village's war casualties are remembered in Thelwall on the village war memorial at the corner of of Bell and Lymm Lanes, a plaque inside the church, some of the grave stones of family members, 3 graves maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a memorial garden at the entrance to the churchyard, alongside the lychgate.

Thelwall's Millenary Cross was unveiled by Lieutenant-General Sir R.H.K. Butler, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., G.O.C.-in-Chief Western Command on 3rd August 1925 in great ceremony.

Sir Peter Rylands Giving a Speech at the Unveiling Ceremony

Miss Rylands' Invitation to the Unveiling Ceremony

It is called the Millenary Cross because in addition to being a memorial to the local casualties of the Great War, it also commemorates events a thousand years before when Edward the Elder ordered a fortification to be built in the area and to be called Thelwall. A translation of the event as recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is given on the base of the monument:

DCCCCXXIII

IN THIS YEAR WENT KING EDWARD WITH A FORCE

AFTER HARVEST TO THELWALL AND BADE BUILD THE

CITY AND OCCUPY AND MAN IT.

ANGLO SAXON CHRONICLE C.C.C. LIBRARY CAMBRIDGE

The quote is also given in the original language on the cross itself:

MID FIERDE ON UFAN

HAERFEST TO THELWAELE

& HET GEWYRCAN THA

BURG & GESETTAN &

GEMANNIAN & HET OTHRE

FIERD EAC OF MIERCNA

THEODE THA HWILE THE

HE THAER SAET GEFARAN

MAMECEASTER ON

NORTHHYMRUM & HIE

GEBETAN & GEMANNIAN

DCCCCXXIII

10 Casualties of the Great War are listed on the base of the cross:

Roland Sydney George Brookes

Walter Henry Densham MC

James Hankinson

Robert Hankinson

Legh Holden

Edward Francis Dale Nicholson

Evan James Richards

Samuel Shaw

William Henry Tunstall

Richard Barber Whitlow

A further 5 names were added to the Memorial at the end of World War II:

Thomas Jefferson Kennedy

Reginald Aubrey Rendel

Jack Kenneth Smallshaw

Robert Warham

William Woodcock (1897-1941)

A carved wooden plaque at the east end of the nave inside the church lists all the above names, except for Richard Whitlow, but three other names have been added as Great War casualties:

John Jeffreys Bulkeley Jones Parry

Jeffreys Ivor Jones Parry

Peter Wolferstan Rylands (abt.1899-1918)

John Jeffreys Bulkeley Jones Parry was the son of the last Lord of Thelwall Manor, John Parry Jones Parry who died in 1920 and Jeffreys Ivor Jones Parry was the son of John Jeffreys. Peter Wolferstan Rylands was the grandson of Sir Peter Rylands, local industrialist and a Thelwall resident who was very involved with the village community.

The Plaque inside the Church

The Jones-Parrys and Jack Smallshaw are also remembered on family graves in Thelwall churchyard. Other casualties rememberd on family graves are:

Myles Boddington MC

Henry Charles Carden DSO

Arthur Fone Layton

There are 3 graves in Thelwall churchyard from the Great War which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These belong to two casualties who died at Thelwall Heyes Military Hospital:

Herbert Alfred Ingham

Arthur (Rourke) Jenkins

and Richard Whitlow who died at home in Thelwall.

Casualty Index - Alpahbetical: - War Memorials, Thelwall

Other Associated Pages

Thelwall

All Saints' Churchyard, Thelwall

Thelwall Memorials Project

Thelwall - People

Thelwall Memorials Index

Thelwall War Graves and Memorials - External Links

Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Thelwall All Saints Churchyard

War Memorials on line - Thelwall

Grappenhall And Thelwall Royal British Legion - Imperial War Museum

Thelwall Millennium Cross - Imperial War Museum

Carl's Cam - War Memorial, Thelwall, Cheshire

In Remembrance Forum - Thelwall

Thelwall War Memorial Cheshire Roll of Honour