- Type of Memorial
- Gate
- WMR Reference Number
- 27144
- Description
- Built at the South-West corner of the churchyard, a two-storey, castellated sandstone gate house with iron gates, and a small turret upon which is set a flagpole. Inside, the original WW1 cast bronze plaque was inset in the centre of the North wall, with carved inscriptions each side and below, beneath a carved arch of acorns and oak leaves above crossed palm branches. After WW2 the wall was reconfigured so that a new cast dedicatory plaque was installed in that central space, and new insets carved out to take the WW1 plaque on the left, and a new WW2 plaque of similar type to the right. There is a sandstone shelf beneath the plaques on which is sat a block of stone for holding plant pots, upon which there is a text inscribed. In 2018, to mark the Centenary of the end of WW1 a new inscription was carved into the outer edge of the shelf.
There are carved inscriptions, painted red, around the inside walls of the gatehouse. Outside there are dedications, with a crowned cross above, carved into the outside wall of the staircase leading to the upper levels of the gatehouse on the street side. On the church side, in a roofed niche, there is a carved statue of William Temple, then the Bishop of Manchester, in whose Diocese the Parish was at the time of its Dedication.
Opposite to the dedicatory plaques for the Peace Gate, there are also 5 memorial plaques from the local collieries of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company Limited. These are;
Prospect Pit: WMR 1841, Taylor and John Pit: WMR 84115, Victoria Pit: WMR 27465, Langtree Pit: WMR 59495,
Giants Hall Pit: WMR 27470
- Inscription
- Inside the gate:
Above the left hand, WW1 plaque: 1914-1918
On the plaque: Praise God for the members of/ Standish Parish Church who fell/ in the Great War 1914 - 1918/ (Names)
Central plaque: Roll of Honour/ 1914-1918 1939-1945/ Their name liveth/ To the Glory of God/ and in grateful memory/ of those who in the two/ Great Wars/ laid down their lives/ "They shall grow not old/ As we that are left grow old/ Age shall not earth them/ Nor the years condemn/ At the going down of the sun/ And in the morning/ We will remember them"/ BINYON/ 'If I should die/ think only this of me/ that there's some corner/ of a foreign field/ that is forever England"/ BROOKE
Above the right-hand, WW2 plaque: 1939 - 45
On the plaque: (Names)
In a scroll carved beneath the plaques: "Such a sleep they sleep the men I loved"/ Passing of Arthur, Tennyson
On the stone for holding flower pots: O may we join the choir invisible/ of those immortal dead who live again
On the outside edge of the shelf for the above: 1918 - Lest we forget - 2018
Carved in an inset to the outside front wall: To the Greater Glory of God/ AMEN/ This Memorial Gate was built/ as a tribute to the men of/ Standish/ who counting death no loss/ valiantly made the last sacrifice/ in defence of their hearths & homes/ in the European War/ The men " Whose praise is/ throughout all the Churches"/ "Who stands if Freedom fall/ Who dies if England live." Kipling.
Carved beneath the inset: Sons of this place, let this of you be said/ that you who live are worthy of your dead/ These gave their lives that you who live may reap/ a richer harvest ere you fall asleep. Royds