Notes: 1. An unknown newspaper report undated reports:- It is the first to be erected in the County of Durham and one of the first in the North of England.
2. Bishop Collins of Hexham and Newcastle should have performed the ceremony but was indisposed and his place was undertaken by Canon Harris of Esh.
3. As yet the tablet bears no names but up to the present time we have six Lanchester men who have surrendered their lives in their country’s cause- Thomas Robinson, Wm. O’Brien, Joseph McHatton, (McElhatton) Wm. Costello, Robert Wainwright and Ernest Halton (Fallon)
4. All Saint’s Church produced a leaflet for November 11th 2018 which provides details about the War Memorial:
– Our War Memorial was erected in 1917 more than one year before the Armistice. The impact and unbearable sense of grief in communities across the land is difficult for us to appreciate. The great loss of life, an army consisting of so many young volunteer recruits and then the policy of non-repatriation of the dead, meant that families and communities longed for some sort of memorial. Temporary street shrines spontaneously appeared, usually around the latest list of casualties, which then became Rolls of Honour. The Catholic community of Lanchester were especially determined to set up a permanent outdoor memorial for their loved ones.
A CALVARY was the style chosen, which is very much in the European Catholic tradition and it is unlike the Celtic style crosses, obelisks or warrior sculptures which became the norm in Britain in the following years. A canopied cross of Indian teak stands over 20 feet high. A cast metal Christ corpus hangs in sacrifice, with his head raised at the moment of the Seven Last Words.
A GOLGOTHA, in the form of a curved black stone forms a cairn base set firmly into a concrete platform. This echoes the stress upon salvation and the altar of sacrifice for the souls of the departed.
The STONE OF NAMES is of black polished granite and is set into the cairn. Below it is a smaller stone for World War II The INSCRIPTION also emphasises the Catholic theology of Salvation rather than Remembrance. Crucified Jesus Have mercy on the souls of Who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-18 R.I.P. Regrettably, at some point, and certainly by the 1970s, the original oak Christ had been replaced by the current gilded metal sculpture. It is less than life size and does not have the drooped head, steeply angled arms, or colouration of the hair of the original Boulton figure. There is an identical Memorial at Esh (E73.01 which still has the carved oak figure obviously commissioned by Canon Harris.
