“Bare your heads, ye that pass by.”
It is always a privilege to conserve a local war memorial for the community using the best of traditional and new craft skills and materials.
Over summer 2026, Skillingtons was commissioned by Taddington Parish Council to clean, repair, repoint and repaint inscriptions on the First World War memorial that stands by the entrance to St Michael and All Angels churchyard.
The memorial cross is made of Brincliffe Blue Stone and features relief carving including decorative strapwork, a pelican in piety and St Michael with sword. It was designed by S Hancock & Sons of Nethergreen (Sheffield) and originally unveiled in October 1921 by the 9th Duke of Devonshire.
The original inscription dedicated it to the “sacrifice made by the inhabitants of Taddington during the Great War 1914-1918” with names of the six fallen as well as a list of 31 others who served.
Added later (17 April 1951) was a dedication to the Second World War 1939-1945 with just two casualty names, one of which, C J Smalley, has a family connection to Skillingtons director, Dr David Carrington, making this work especially poignant.
With a family connection to the monument, it was especially nice to ensure that the cleaning was done properly and sensitively, causing no surface damage to the stonework, and to repoint the joints with lime mortar to make the monument weatherproof again. The concrete base also needed repairs, and the original, hand-cut, inscriptions needed to be carefully repainted.
Following the work, the war memorial is structurally and cosmetically improved, and the inscriptions legible now that they stand out once again, as they should.
“Thank you and all in your team for the works done on our war memorial, it means a great deal to everyone in our villages and beyond to have this completed.” ~ Clerk to Taddington and Priestcliffe Parish Council