Conserved with care and dignity - Cassington Memorial.

Repairs are now complete to Cassington Memorial – a project commissioned by Cassington Parish Council as the uniqueness of the memorial is something that the Village is very proud of. The project was funded by Cassington Parish Council with grant funding from the War Memorial Trust. The stone repairs were executed with great sensitivity by specialist stone mason Trevor Dean of Banbury. Works commenced before Christmas 2018 and completed on 31st January 2019.

The memorial pays tribute to those that died in the first and second world wars and was constructed by Mr FD Howard and Mr Alec Miller of Axtell and Son. The statuary depicts life and death and the plinth bears inscriptions: To the gallant dead. Death is swallowed up in victory. Cassington Parish Council have maintained the memorial in excellent condition for the past 70 years as a loving memory to those who lost their life in the war. 

The capital stone was repaired in situ, with small indents replacing defective crockets, and a sheltercoat applied for protection. Erosion to the column, caused by soft beds within the stone was shelter coated to help reduce the ongoing effects of erosion.  

At first the memorial appeared to be entirely from Bath Stone, however, as a result of the works we were able to glean that a number of different stones had been used. On dressing of stone for repair, mason, Trevor Dean identified that the capital stone was from Ketton Stone, near Stamford. Ketton is distinct from Bath it has an orange tone and is less susceptible to erosion. The Bath stone originally proposed was substituted to avoid the possibility of the stone eroding at a different rate. Following cleaning it became clear that the plinth had been repaired in the past with Clipsham.

”The masonry work completed by Trevor Dean was exceptional and even though there were a few issues that came up, James and Trevor dealt with them with complete professionalism.” Cassington Parish Council