From Retford we carried on south and stopped at Downham Market in Norfolk.

It has a distinctive clock tower in the market square.

Reeds Homestore has lovely stained glass and rounded windows:-

This building also had stained glass windows:-

Some very traditional buildings:-

I hadn’t planned on stopping there so hadn’t looked up the town’s War Memorial beforehand so as a result we didn’t spot it but there are pictures of it to be found on the internet.

Retford’s War Memorial stands in the Market Square and takes the form of an Eleanor Cross.

Inscription:-

Names, Great War above, World War 2 below with WW2 dedication:-

Names

More names:-

Areas/towns fought over:-

Great War dedication:-

Korean War name:-

Crosses and wreaths:-

Donation and presentation plaques:-

Information board by Memorial:-

Dean Cemetery is right next to the former Dean Gallery now known as Modern Two.

On a visit last May we took a stroll through the cemetery and I came across this, which appeared to be a Crimean War Memorial:-

The plaque reads, “In memory of 369 non-commissioned Officers and men of the 79th Highlanders who died in Bulgaria and the Crimea or fell in action during the campaign of 1854-5,” with beow that on the stone steps “Alma” and “Sevastopol”.

Close-up on plaque:-

However, a plaque on the other side of the memorial is dedicated to the East Indies Campaign of 1857-1871:-

On the step below it is commemorated “Lucknow”:-

Just behind Keith War Memorial, a little further up the small hill on which it stands, is a memorial to the 6th Battalion Gordon Highlanders, a figure of a kilted soldier with rifle at the ready:-

Dedications:-

The battalion’s battle honours are listed on either side of the memorial:-

Keith is a town in the former Banffshire, now a part of Moray, about eight miles south-east of Fochabers. Its War Memorial is a sarcophagus-like cenotaph in the grand municipal style just off the main A 96 road through the town:-

Great War dedication and names:-

Second World War names and dedications are to either side on the walls behind the earlier memorial stone:-

On a piece of grass to the side is a stone laid in memory of the dead of other conflicts:-

Fochabers is a village in the parish of Bellie in Moray, just off the A 96 road which acts as its bypass. It’s about ten miles east of Elgin.

Its War Memorial is a stone column in a triangle of land in front of the entrance gate to Gordon Castle.

Great War dedication, “To the men of the parish of Bellie.”:-

Great War names:-

Second World War Roll of Honour, Fochabers District:-

Lossiemouth is a town in Moray, situated where the River Lossie enters the Moray Firth. It’s about six miles north of Elgin.

It has an unusual wall mounted Memorial, hard by the River Lossie just before it reaches the Moray Firth. On Pitgaveny Street.

Dedications and names:-

The Memorial is surmounted by a figure of Victory and Peace:-

Alves is a village on the A 96 between Forres and Elgin. We passed its War Memorial, a lion surmounted pillar atop an octagonal plinth, on our way back to Elgin from Forres and of course I had to stop tp photograph it

Dedication plus Great War and Second World War names:-

I didn’t spot a War Memorial in Kinloss, despite the many war graves, however less than two miles along the coast at Findhorn, this one stands at a road junction at the entrance to the village:-

A stone obelisk on a square base at road junction on entrance to the village. Sheathed cavalry sword and wreath on front face. The dedication reads, “In honoured memory of the brave men from Kinloss parish who fell in the Great War.” Along with Great War names, the names of Second World War dead appear on two of the other faces:-

Kinloss ws the site of an RAF base from 1939 onwards. In 2012 the RAF moved out and the site became a barracks for the Army.

Part of the Kinloss Abbey grounds became a burial ground for war dead. There was already a grave there of a Great War casualty (Lieutenant Percy Strickland, HMS Dublin, 31/5/1916, aged 27.) The remainder are RAF, RCAF, RAAF or RNZAF casualties from World War 2.

There are in total 73 war graves at the site.

Kinloss Abbey ruins and some of the war graves:-

Since there are more than thirty graves the site has a Cross of Sacrifice:-

Reverse view:-

Another set of war graves lies to the right of the above photo; seen here from the Abbey ruin above:-

Reverse view:-