SOME remarkable pieces of history have been recovered during the work on the town’s cenotaph.

As previously reported in the Warrington Guardian, work is under way to to stabilise the banks of the River Mersey.

The £1.1 million project is has seen the plinth removed and the stonework and surrounding plaques with the names of the fallen.

They have now been moved to a safe storage location.

Anyone driving around Bridge Foot recently will have seen large construction plant work taking place.

Warrington Guardian:

Work is under way

A spokesman for Warrington Borough Council said; “Works have begun on constructing the sheet piles to the river bank in order to carry out stabilisation of the river bank.

“Over the next coming weeks piling will be taking place, which at times, may be a little noisy. We are hopeful that the noise levels will be kept to a minimum during the works.”

During the removal of the lower section of the cenotaph however, two time capsules were found.

Unfortunately one of these had suffered extreme water damage and was beyond salvage, however the second time capsule is in very good condition and inside this were copies of the Warrington Guardian and the Warrington Examiner from October 1925.

Warrington Guardian:

The front page of the old Warrington Guardian found

It included adverts for Bridge Street department store Hancock and Wood, as well as for films playing at Warrington cinemas including Queens, Royal Court, The Grand and The Empire.

The capsule also included council year books, old one pence pieces and tram tokens.

A spokesman added: “The project team are working with other sections within WBC and the museum to investigate how and where these can be displayed.”

Meanwhile the on site team from Balfour Beatty and Culture Warrington are working with schools in the ar4ea to educate them about the Cenotaph works, the reasons why the Cenotaph is in place and also working in the construction industry.

A number of school visits have already taken place and pupils are preparing materials to input into the new time capsules and wreath hangers.