A VILLAGE war memorial is set to be restored – if plans are approved.

Alderholt Parish Council has applied to Dorset Council for permission to carry out restoration work on the village memorial, at the Church of St James.

The plans include a report from the War Memorial Restoration Co, which details issues with the current, three metre-high structure.

“The memorial was found to be structurally sound, however it has subsided forwards by approximately six degrees, and is also leaning to the left by approximately 3.5 degrees from true,” it said.

“It was not possible to ascertain whether the sections of the memorial are secured using any fixings and so any prolonged and/or increased subsidence is going to exert stress on these joints, possibly leading to catastrophic collapse of the main cross section.”

The memorial is leaning, a report confirmed

The report recommended the memorial be re-levelled, with ‘additional, more extensive’ foundations installed.

Permission for this work is now being sought by the parish council.

The memorial was unveiled on Sunday, September 19, 1920, commemorating 18 local servicemen who died in the First World War. Following the Second World War, six additional names were added.

The names would be cleaned and re-enamelled as part of the work, the application confirmed.

Known as a ‘wheel-head cross’, the memorial stands in a square flowerbed on a lawn to the west of the church.

“The war memorial is a simple example of the wheel-head cross type of war memorial in the Celtic style,” the application adds.

Names of the fallen would be cleaned and re-enamelled

It added tat ‘no disturbance of ground’ would take place during the repair, other than directly beneath the foundations.

For more details on the plans, log on to www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk and search for application reference P/LBC/2023/04103.