'Leaning Tower of Tattenhall' war memorial fixed for Remembrance Day

Dubbed the 'Leaning Tower of Tattenhall', the large stone structure is a grade II listed building and has stood, for the last 22 months crookedly, on Tattenhall High Street for over a century.

Following the turbulent and wet weather in January 2021, the iconic memorial suffered from ground movement. Flash floods had left the memorial with an unstable footing and sinkholes, so it was decided for safety reasons that it would be fenced off and closed to the public, while the parish council sought a solution.

Tattenhall parish council is now delighted to announce that the memorial has been repaired and will be a central part of the coming weekend’s Remembrance ceremony.

Iain Keeping, chairman of Tattenhall parish council comments: "The two or three large holes at the foot of the memorial were initially alarming. When we began to seek repair solutions, we were quite concerned that dismantling and underpinning or removing to another site would be the solution. Both would have been hugely expensive and a risk of irreparably damaging the structure. After all, it was a local referendum over 100 years ago that decided where the memorial should be placed in the village, and it is in a prominent position.

"We were thrilled that Mainmark had the solutions to straighten it in its current site, and in just under a day too! It’s perfect timing for our local residents and visitors to see it unveiled and restored ahead of Remembrance Day."

Leading ground stabilisation and strengthening specialists, Mainmark, are responsible for the repair work to correct its structural issues, all in time for Remembrance Day.

The Memorial was restored by Mainmark. (Image: Mainmark)

Tom Kavanagh, general manager at Mainmark, said: "We’re very proud to help support this local village and bring a memorial with such history and meaning within its community back to life. It’s not uncommon for extremely wet weather to impact older structures and buildings, and in this case, the soil up to 2.5 metres below the ground was remediated.

"We’re very familiar and experienced with ground strengthening, and usually work on much bigger buildings, or properties. So it’s satisfying when our resin injection solution fixes smaller structural issues like this memorial too. It’s Grade II listed, so extra care was taken to preserve the sandstone structure, and we’ve achieved another excellent result as the memorial now stands straight and safe for another century, and beyond!"

This year, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of remembrance on the High Street, as the Memorial was first unveiled on Wednesday, July 26,1922 by Lt Gen Sir Henry Beauvoir de Lisle KCB KCMG DSO (GOC-in-C The Western Command).

On Sunday, November13 , to mark Remembrance Sunday, there is a service at 10am at St Alban’s church, before the procession down to the Tattenhall war memorial. During the Act of Remembrance at the memorial, the Last Post will be played followed by two minutes silence and Reveille. Wreaths from the Parish Council and a number of village organisations including youth groups will be laid on the memorial, followed by a hymn and prayers, led by Father Lameck. Members of the parish, villagers, and the local community are invited to join.

Remembrance Sunday organiser David Bish, says: "We have a long tradition of gathering at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday. For the last two years until Mainmark’s successful operation to stabilise it, we had to lay our wreaths by the WW1 plaque in St Alban’s Church. The memorial really is an iconic and central part of our service and ceremony on Sunday so we are very pleased to have it restored for this. The church wardens and parish council are pushing to smarten the whole area at the moment, so the memorial’s leaning issue being fixed plays a key part in that."

The war memorial is located on Tattenhall High Street, and for more information, readers can visit: http://www.tattenhallhistory.co.uk/tattenhall-war-memorial/.