Crimean Memorial Plinth

A plinth, bearing the names of Crimean War casualties, can be seen outside the Queens Hotel.

There were two plinths originally, on which were mounted Russian guns captured at the siege of Sebastopol and presented to the town in 1856 by the then Secretary of State for War, Lord Panmure.

The Queens Hotel proprietor, Mr Davis, allowed the guns to be stored in the hotel stables and also defrayed the cost of mounting them on their cast iron plinths. The mounted guns were officially unveiled on 5 July 1858.

The cannon were removed during the Second World War scrap metal drive, along with many of the town’s railings, and now only one of the plinths remains.