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0128. The Cross in School Lane on a postcard of 1920. From the Towers Collection.Neil Cunnington has researched the history of the cross and written the following account:-
"This postcard is the front
view of the war memorial cross erected in honour of the Harby
soldiers and sailors who participated in The Great War. A committee
was formed in the village to get drawings, estimates etc. The
accepted plans were drawn up by Mr T. Burbidge, and the work was
entrusted to Mr S. Squires of Bingham. The total height is nearly
fifteen feet, the lower of the two bases being eight feet square.
The stone above is four feet square and two feet in height
containing ninety-nine names, nineteen on the front face being those
who made the great sacrifice. The remaining eighty names are those
who also enlisted from the village and survived the ordeal of The
Great War. Surrounding this stone is an old shaft and base from the
ancient village cross, which was dismantled by Cromwell's Roundheads
in their crusade against everything that did not conform to their
puritanical beliefs. This is capped with a new cross from a
suggested design of what the original may have looked like, and
drawn by a former rector of the village, the Rev. Manners Octavius
Norman. The whole of the structure, both old and new, is of Portland
stone. It is particularly fitting that the old pillar should be used
as this relic of the old village cross stood originally on the
village green, not many yards from its present position. When the
school was built in 1860 it was removed into the churchyard where it
had stood until used as this Memorial. The unveiling ceremony took
place on the night of Thursday, 20th May, 1920, and was performed by
the Rev. E. H. Stone, Rector, in the presence of two hundred people.
An impressive service was held before the dedication, in which the
church and chapel choirs sang, and sixty ex-service men formed a
guard of honour. The Rev. Stone, in the course of his address,
expressed his gratitude to the ex-service men of the village for the
part they had played in the winning of the war. The Rev. C. T.
Lander, Wesleyan Minister, Long Clawson, said it would have been
impossible to erect a more fitting Memorial. After the 1939-45 war,
two names of men who did not return were carved on the base. The
arrow marks where the new cross was fitted to the old. The steel
brace which joins the two part together was made by Mr Martin Stead,
the village blacksmith." The inscription reads
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