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war memorial; marble statue of soldier holding rifle, surmounting granite pedestal

At the beginning of the twentieth century the Lancashire and Yorkshire Locomotive Works was the largest employer in Horwich. During the First World War some 800 local locomotive workers enlisted to fight, of whom 120 were killed. The memorial was raised by their fellow workers and took the form of a soldier of the Manchester Regiment dressed in full marching order, holding a rifle in his right hand. The names of the dead and their rank were inscribed around the base of the granite pedestal. It was designed by Paul Fairclough and made by Messrs Leonard Fairclough Ltd of Adlington, Lancashire. The memorial, costing £700, was unveiled in August 1921 by George Hughes, chief mechanical engineer at the works. Fairclough's statue was welcomed as a fine and original memorial which captured the character of the Lancashire soldier. A further inscription was added after the Second World War. Over the years the memorial became neglected and on one occasion it was featured in the local press as the borough's worst kept memorial. The decline of the railway works in the 1980s led to the local council acquiring the memorial from Parkfield Castings in 1989.(1)

memorial to soldiers of the L nd Y Locomotove Work at Horwich

circa

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At risk

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Statue

Marble

183 cm high

Pedestal

Granite

Surface spalling, crumbling

Broken, missing parts

rifle broken and replaced