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Following a public meeting of the Peace Committee in
June 1919, it was decided to start fund raising to erect a fitting War Memorial
for those men of the village who had fallen during the Great War. Mr Briscoe of Rock Cottage, Brownhill donated
a site situated on the wayside under his property. Mr H.J.Stanley a London
Architect was appointed to oversee the work and Mr Warwick Edwards, a local
stone mason, was selected to carry out the work.
The proposal was to hollow a niche in the rock face,
create a seat either side, a Cross standing at the back and above, a hole in
the roof from which light would shine on the Cross In the event the rock proved difficult to
work having numerous faults, and in order to carve the Cross the niche
developed into a cave, as it was now deeper than the original they also had to abandon the light. To save
costs it was decided that a ceramic tablet would be suitable as the actual War Memorial,
and the firm of Compton Pottery of Guildford Surrey (See article on the Pottery
by Irena) were engaged to do the work.
A notice was displayed in the village shops asking for
details of all those men who had served and those who had fallen. The list of
the names of the fallen being passed to The Pottery, for incising on the tablet.
The deadline for the tablet to be finished was the end of March 1920 with the
dedication being planned for October that year.
Unfortunately, Ernest Lloyd died on 9th of
April and Charles Henry Hanmer on the1st of April both as a result of war
service. The Committee being informed, decided that as the ceramic was already fired
and could not be altered their suggestion was to add another smaller tablet at some
future date, but to hold back in case other men also died in the meantime. This
was never carried out.
In the early 2000’s a lady from Powis contacted the
Parish Council asking for information about a third man called Alfred Rogers. She had bought a very ornate picture frame
with a photograph of Alfred Rogers with details written on the back. She then visited our War Memorial only to find
that he had not been shown. Having drawn this to the attention of local
historian Yoland Brown, and Clive Blakeway of the Shropshire War Memorials
Trust, they successfully campaigned to have another plaque installed showing
the name of Alfred Rogers, with the work taking place in 2006.
In 2008 Leslie White, a newcomer to the village, noticed the omission of the names of the other two men who, although being buried in the Churchyard in Commonwealth War Graves, were not included on the War Memorial itself. Having asked for funding from the War Memorials Trust and the local Parish Council to install a new plaque, Mr. White found there was no funding available. The Parish Council decided to try to obtain a grant for the work but, after a long campaign, over a number of years, were still unable to fund it. Mr White then decided to take on the costs and found a suitable stone mason of The Stone Workshop in Weobley, Herefordshire, who was able to copy the headings and wording of the original so that the three missing young men, could sit alongside each other. It was finally installed by the Midland Masonry Company in October 2024 and shows the names of Alfred Rogers, Charles H. Hanmer and Ernest Lloyd could join those of their comrades.
Ruyton XI Towns owe Irena and her late husband
Les, our gratitude for the huge amount of time, effort and finance to
have the new plaque installed on the eve of Remembrance Sunday 2024
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| Original ceramic plaque by Compton Pottery plus 2006 addition of Alfred Rogers. AlsoWorld War II memorial |
New stone plaque with addition of the threemissing men Alfred Roger, Charles H. Hanmer and Ernest Lloyd |
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