Reasons for Designation
Monckton War Memorial is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
- as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on this Kentish town;
- as an privately commissioned memorial by a prominent local citizen in remembrance of his fellows rather than the more usual communal memorial;
- as an elaborate and well executed example of the widely erected market cross style of First World War memorial;
- for group value with the Grade I listed All Saints Church.
War memorial. Portland stone. 1918
DESCRIPTION: Built of Portland stone, the memorial takes the form of a tall octagonal shaft topped with an ornate cross with elaborate tracery and carved terminals. Below the cross is a hexagonal moulded collar and below this, mounted on projecting plinths, are four medieval style figures representing: a knight with shield; a king; a warrior with spear; and a Madonna and child. The shaft sits on an octagonal plinth resting on a three step octagonal base. The inscription, in a Gothic script, runs in an incised band round the base and reads:
THIS CROSS WAS ERECTED AND
DEDICATED 1918
TO THE GLORY OF GOD
IN PERPETUAL AND GRATEFUL
MEMORY OF MAIDSTONE MEN
WHO IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919
GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE EMPIRE
"TRUE LOVE BY LIFE TRUE LOVE BY DEATH IS TRIED LIVE THOU FOR ENGLAND WE FOR ENGLAND DIED".
The memorial is located in a prominent setting in the churchyard of All Saints Church, just to the east of the church and visible from Mill Street.
HISTORY: The Monckton war memorial is unusual in that it was erected in 1918 by a member of a prominent local family, probably Herbert Monckton who had been the Town Clerk of Maidstone and in 1915 had advocated recreational trips on the Medway for the large numbers of invalid soldiers in the town. It is a private memorial to the citizens of Maidstone who died in World War I, rather than the more usual civic-funded memorials erected by communities. As such it bears an inscription but not the names of the fallen. The designer is currently unknown although it was dedicated by Archbishop Randall Davidson.