First World War Memorials Programme

First World War Memorials Programme: conserving and protecting UK War Memorials

In commemoration of the centenary of the First World War the Department for Culture Media and Sport has made a £4.5 million fund available for the conservation and protection of war memorials. The First World War Memorials Programme sees Civic Voice, Historic England, IWM and War Memorials Trust working in partnership with the public on a programme of recording, research, conservation and listing that ensures war memorials across the country are protected and the people they commemorate are remembered.

To find out more about the programme and how your local community can access the funds they need to repair, protect and conserve war memorials please visit: http://ukwarmemorials.org or contact warmemorials@historicengland.org.uk.

The First World War Memorials Programme aims to engage the public with their war memorial heritage and to ensure as many First World War memorials as possible are in good condition by the end of the centenary in 2018. It aims to do this in the following ways:

• By making £2 million in grants available for the conservation and protection of war memorials. Grants are administered by War Memorials Trust. If you would like to apply for a grant for your local war memorial(s) details of how to apply can be found here or you can contact them directly to enquire about funding on grants@warmemorials.org or 020 7233 7356.
• Engaging the public with war memorials through war memorial workshops run by Civic Voice. You can find details of these workshops on their website and also sign up to the war memorials newsletter which gives  regular updates on the programme.
• Listing 2,500 war memorials. If you would like to apply for your local war memorial to be added to the National Heritage List for England, details of how to do so can be found here: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/apply-for-listing/ You can search to see if a memorial is already Listed here: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/.
• Enhancing available data on war memorials through the IWM’s War Memorials Register and War Memorials Online. You can search WMR records for information relating to a war memorial on the IWM site, and this page contains contact details should you wish to add updates to information relating to a memorial. You can search for information relating to the current condition of a war memorial using War Memorials Online. You can also add your own updates relating to the condition of a war memorials – data which can then be used by War Memorials Trust to identify memorials in need of conservation. If you wish to apply for a grant your war memorial should be on War Memorials Online.
• Enhancing education relating to war memorials. If you are a teacher or educator information about visiting a war memorial and doing a condition survey with school children can be found here. There is also a range downloadable teaching resources available from War Memorials Trust.
• Enhancing conservation skills relating to war memorials. If you are a heritage or memorial professional working with war memorials (e.g. stone mason) information relating to conservation can be found here: and a guidance document is available here.