Norwell St Laurence

War Memorial

Principal Memorial

There is a stone War Memorial in the shape of a 12ft (3.7m) high runic cross in the churchyard to the west of the church, overlooking the Cromwell Road to the north. On the north side of the memorial is a list of those who fell in the First World War, and on the south side those who fell in the Second World War with the addition of one who fell in Malaya in 1952.

The inscriptions read as follows:

North side:
1914 - 1919
ERECTED
BY PUBLIC
SUBSCRIPTION
IN MEMORY OF

HERBERT BAINES
SAM BALDWIN
ERNEST CHILVERS
CHRISTOPHER ETCHES
BERT FAULKNER
JOHN HENTON
ALFRED HEATON
ROBERT WILSON JACKSON
HARRY MARSTON
ARTHUR PARR
HENRY WILSON

WHO COUNTED NOT THEIR LIVES DEAR
UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE
IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, TRUTH AND PEACE.
South side:

IN HONOURED MEMORY OF
JAMES ADAMSON
WILFRED ALAN CARY
FRANK FRECKNALL GREASLEY
WHO FELL IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
1939 - 1945

O VALIANT HEARTS WHO TO YOUR
GLORY CAME

JAMES F. BRITNELL
1952
MALAYA

Roll of Honour Boards

Inside the church there are wooden boards commemorating all those who served in the two World Wars indicating which of them had fallen.

First World War Roll

The board to east of the south door commemorates the First World War.

To the Glory of God

AND IN HONOUR OF THE MEN FROM
NORWELL AND NORWELL WOODHOUSE WHO SERVED THEIR
KING AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT
WAR OF 1914 - 1919

ASH.F
BAINES. HERBT (FALLEN)
BAINES. H.
BALDWIN.S. (FALLEN)
BENNETT. J.W.
BROWN. H.
CHILVERS. E. (FALLEN)
COBB. A.
DOBBS. H.
DODD. A.L.
DODD. C.T.
ELKINGTON. E.
ETCHES. C. (FALLEN)
FAULKNER. B. (FALLEN)
FRECKNALL. H.
FRECKNALL. W.
HAZZARD. A.
HEATON. ALFD. (FALLEN)
HEATON. A.
HEATON. B.J.
HEATON. H.
HEATON. T.
HEMPSALL. A.H.
HEMPSALL. F.A.
HEMPSALL. J.W.
HEMPSALL. L.W.
HENTON. J. (FALLEN)
HOMER. J.T.A.		   JACKSON. R.W. (FALLEN)
JACKSON. P.J.
JACKSON. B.N.
KIRKHAM. G.
LEESON. G.H.
MARSHALL. B.
MARSHALL. E.
MARSHALL. G.
MARSTON. H. (FALLEN)
MARSTON. R.
NORMAN. W.
PARKIN. JOS.
PARKIN. J.H.
PARR. A. (FALLEN)
PARR. R.
REYNOLDS. H.
ROBB. H.S.
SHELDON. T.
TEMPLEMAN. F.
TURNER. A.
TURNER. G.
TURNER. J.W.
WARD. F.
WILLOWS. H.
WILLOWS. S.
WILSON. H. (FALLEN)
WILSON. J.

Second World War Roll

The board to the west of the south door commemorates those who served in the Second World War.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
and in honour of the men &
women from NORWELL and
NORWELL WOODHOUSE
who served their King and
Country in the Second World
War

1939 - 1945

ADAMSON, James
                           Fallen
ADAMSON, Maurice
ANDERSON, John
BAINES, Elsie
BROOKS, Leslie
BROWN, Charles H.
CARY, G. Francis
CARY, Wilfred A.
                           Fallen
CLARKE, E. Margaret
DOBBS, Harold
DODD, G. William
DOUGHTY, Robert B.
FARMER, Boyd D.
GREASLEY, Frank F.
                           Fallen
HEMPSALL, George A.		   HEMPSALL, Mark E.
HINDE, G. Ernest
HOUGH, Leonard
HOWARD, Denis
KEMP, Albert E.
NEEDHAM, Betty H.
PASK, Eustace
SMITH, Henry
SMITH, William H.
SMITH, J. Thomas
SHELDON, Henry
SHELDON, Benjamin
SHELDON, Walter
TEMPLEMAN, John
WILLOWS, Barbara J.

Two boards similar to these were originally put in the Methodist Chapel at the same time as they were put in the church. They were removed from the Methodist Chapel when it was closed in 1988/9 and can now be found in the entrance to Norwell Village Hall. A discrepancy which has not been resolved is that a contemporary report in the Newark Advertiser stated that the Second World War board in the Methodist chapel started with the words ‘To the honour of those who served the village, and in particular those who gave their lives, this tablet is dedicated’. This is not the wording on the board in the Village Hall.

Dedication of the memorials

There was a public meeting in Norwell in August 1919 to decide upon a fitting memorial for those who had fallen in the Great War. It was not until February 1921 that there was agreement on the form that the memorial should take. A stone cross was made by G Brown and Son of Newark at a cost of £150. The cost was raised by public subscription. It was also agreed that wooden scrolls should be made for the Church and Methodist Chapel.

Dedication of the
War Memorial

The Dedication service took place on 17 September 1921. The address was given by the vicar of Norwell, the Revd B S Ainley, and the lesson was read by the Superintendent Methodist minister, the Revd G H Pickering. The scouts formed an enclosure around the cross with their staves whilst the ceremony of unveiling the cross was carried out by Lt Col R F B Hodgkinson who loosened the Union Jack which covered the memorial. Bugles were sounded.

The memorials for the fallen in the 1939-45 War were dedicated in April 1950 in both the church and the chapel. The service in the chapel was conducted by the Revd F Onyett and Councillor D P Blatherwick of Newark; the service in the church by the vicar, the Revd Henry Rymer Heritage and the Archdeacon of Newark, the Ven F H West.

Individual Memorials

In addition to the principal War Memorial in the churchyard, and the two Rolls of Honour, there are two memorial plaques in the church to individuals who gave their lives during the First World War. These are monuments to:

Harry Marston (d. 3 April 1917)

Robert Wilson Jackson (d. 10 July 1915)

James Adamson and Frank Greasley, both of whom were killed in the Second World War, have memorial headstones in the churchyard.

All of these are also listed on the principal War Memorial and the Rolls of Honour.