Rededication of War Memorial, Mytholmroyd - AGW00165

In September/October 1992, vandals twice attacked the statue of the soldier on Mytholmroyd’s Grade 2 listed War Memorial. The first attack removed the soldier’s rifle (subsequently found in bushes close by); in the second attack, he lost his head. Enquiries and searches by the police, which included a search of the nearby River Calder, were unavailing; the original head remains missing. With Remembrance Day imminent, Southowram sculptor Andy Barraclough stepped in and carved a replacement head free of charge, in time for the service.

Though the new head was not in the style of the original, it stayed in place until Jade Smith organised a restoration of the memorial in 2011. Another new head, more in keeping with the original style, was placed on the statue and the restored monument was ceremonially unveiled on October 16, 2011.

Andy Barraclough’s head, which had held the memories of Mytholmroyd’s war dead for nineteen years, passed into the keeping of Jade Smith and then John Billingsley, who donated it to the Hebden Bridge Local History Society in February 2013.

Alan Greenwood

Alan Greenwood

2011-10-16T13:52:42

PHDA - Alan Greenwood Collection

Pennine Horizons Digital Archive

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