A UNIQUE bronze war memorial plaque dating from 1904 has been stolen in Calderdale.
The rare plaque, which commemorates the Boer War, was taken from the Soldiers’ Memorial at the West View Park, Halifax, over the weekend. The theft was discovered by funeral services staff yesterday and has been reported to police.
The historic memorial is a 40ft-high stone monolith, which stands in the English-heritage listed park, topped with a copper statue of a Boer soldier.
The stolen plaque measures 6ft by nearly 3ft and was hand-made using a rare reverse-engraving technique. Two other plaques attached to the war memorial were damaged and have been removed by funeral services staff for safe keeping.
Paul Stubbs, Calderdale Council Funeral Services Manager, said: “The plaque will be worth very little as scrap metal, but we will have extreme difficulty replacing it.
“It is unique as there are very few memorials like this depicting people killed in the Boer War. It will be extremely difficult these days to find a coppersmith who could replicate the techniques used to produce the plaque. It was a huge shock to come in this morning and find the plaque stolen and two others damaged, and we sincerely hope we can work with police to recover it.”
