World Wars Memorial – installed October 2024
For a number of years Thornton has had a small memorial located within the site of the Stocks and Sundial, at Water Street. That has recently changed when a new memorial was installed outside the site’s railings, facing the Nag’s Head public house.
Roll back a few years and a then Councillor, James O’Keefe explains, in his own words, how it came about…
-“When I became a parish councillor I took on the task of helping to provide more community-wide activities and events, including expanding the annual Remembrance Sunday service. The Remembrance Sunday service is a key event in the year and it is a moment for the community, along with people across the country to remember and pay their respects to those who have served and sacrificed in defence of our country.
The natural focus in the landscape of Thornton to hold these services of reflection and gratitude is the location of the old green and the historic structures of the stocks and sundial: recognizable to all Thornton residents for centuries.
Despite the visible moment of remembrance on Remembrance Sunday, Thornton’s fallen, its heroes, weren’t named in the area. Many residents commented on the absence of a permanent memorial in honour of those from Thornton who served and died in the two world wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45.
I knew that at the end of the Second World War that the Earl of Sefton had said that he would fund a memorial but this never happened and so I felt that Thornton Parish Council could fulfil the wishes of the community and introduce a permanent memorial containing the names of Thornton’s fallen.
I began to search for the names and began by adding them to the Parish Council website. I used local newspapers accessing them in Crosby library (Crosby Herald, Liverpool Evening Express, Liverpool Echo). I also accessed the website Sefton WW1- beyond the Memorials at seftonwarmemorials.org. I used the Commonwealth Graves Commission website cwgc.org for information. I also accessed census records via Crosby library. We were also contacted by a former resident who had promised his neighbours who had lost their son in the Second World War that if a memorial was ever made he would ensure the man’s name was added”.
Below is a list of men who served and died in the First and Second World Wars who lived in Thornton. Their names can be found on Sefton Borough’s Civic war memorials (specifically Sefton Village, Crosby and Waterloo & Seaforth)
The fallen from the First World War
Frederick Lewis Raw
Frank Wharton
William Wharton
Edward Charles Wilcock*
The fallen from the Second World War
Ernest Bridge
Leslie Bennett Brough
Robert Daves Cottam
Noel Douglas Fleming
Kenneth Hilton
George Campbell McCallum
William Thomas Miller
Frank Norman
Kenneth James Roberts
Stanley Burke Whinyates
* Wilcock actually lived in Waterloo but before enlisting, he was employed at the Nag’s Head Hotel, Thornton.
To discover more about the people behind these names and the stories of all the brave men and women listed on the Borough of Sefton’s Civic War Memorials, please visit the website Sefton Beyond the War Memorials here:
https://seftonwarmemorials.org/
In November 2018 a War Memorial plaque in remembrance of all those who lost their lives in the First World War was installed next to the Stocks and Sundial at the top of Water Street in time for that year’s Remembrance Sunday. This plaque has become the focal point for Thornton’s annual Act of Remembrance. This act of remembrance on Remembrance Sunday allows members of the community to pause, reflect and remember those who died during conflict in defence of their country. The Parish Council, scouts, cubs and members of the community lay memorial wreaths at the plaque.
The choice of location for the memorial plaque is significant as it is at the heart of the historic township of Thornton: the site of Thornton’s village green. The extent of the green could be measured from The Grapes public house (north east edge of the green) to the Nag’s Head (south east edge). The Stocks and Sundial were also on the green. The village green, as local historian Thomas Williams noted in Thornton in Sefton Parish, A Short History of an Ancient Township (1948), was an “essential feature of rural life in bygone days” (p.85). For more information on the history of Thornton follow this link: Parish History – Thornton Parish Council Website (thorntonpc.org.uk)
The act of remembrance is similarly held annually at the heart of Thornton.
Covid Memorial – installed October 2024
During the Public Participation session of the Annual meeting of Thornton Parish Council, held using Zoom Video Conferencing on 1 June 2020, The then Reverend Canon Kath Rogers, All Saints and St Frideswyde Church asked members to consider organising something to commemorate the ending of the Covid 19 crisis…”for remembrance, reflection and to honour key workers in the Thornton community and the possible laying of a rainbow wreath”…
Sadly, in the event Covid continued to affect all our lives, some more, some less for a considerable time and by September 2021 the Government were considering an “Annual Covid Day of Reflection”, the first to be held on 23 March 2022. Councillors’ thoughts then turned to the feasibility of a lasting tribute and so a Covid memorial was commissioned from and kindly donated by John Smith, Crosby Memorials Ltd.
Sefton Planning and Highways were necessarily approached and after some considerable time the finished granite memorial was installed in October 2024, at the Stocks and Sundial site, Water Street.
Reverend Canon Kath has since commented… “thank you so much for your kindness in letting me know about this beautiful memorial and sending me the photo. I am delighted! Please pass on my thanks and praise to all concerned! It is beautiful. Bless you.”…
During the Second World War the Parish Council was responsible for the formation of an Air Raid Precaution (ARP) organization in Thornton which worked throughout the duration of the conflict.
