Extended Condition

Condition level:

Survey reason:

Comments:

Recent article notes memorial has received planned maintenance level cleaning. It is important to manage expectations about how ‘clean’ an old structure can be, especially if it is in an environment that makes this difficult. War memorials, the majority of which are a century old, should look their age as they are historic objects which change over the years. Looking old can also help young people understand our memorials better as they look like part of our history.

Soiling might be a problem if you cannot read the letters or it is causing damage e.g. a chemical has got in to the stone and is eating it away. Overcleaning can damage a war memorial – each time you clean the stone you remove the top layer so it becomes less protected and attracts more dirt so it can become a vicious circle.

WMT recommends regular condition checks, keeping photographs and creating a maintenance plan. War Memorials Online can help with this. Creating a record to show any soiling over time helps understand how often stone could/should be cleaned. A maintenance plan should include notes about how it should look, and when cleaning will be done.

Citizens of the City of Norwich