A £5,000 conservation scheme to renovate and repair Chippenham’s war memorial has been completed.

The work, which started on June 18, included replacing pieces of the stonework that have deteriorated and crumbled, carrying out cleaning and repairs and repointing crumbling mortar.

The project was carried out on the town council’s behalf by Chippenham-based specialist stonemasons Howlett-Neal Masonry and Conservation.

A listed structure, the memorial was unveiled on September 4, 1921, to honour and commemorate those from the town who had died in the First World War between 1914 and 1918.

The construction had first been discussed in 1916 and several suggestions were considered before the design and location of the memorial was agreed.

The original memorial carries the names of 160 Chippenham men who died in the First World War.

Three extra panels were added after the Seconed World War and, since then, the names of service personnel who died in more recent conflicts such as the Falklands and Iraq have been added.

The memorial was last refurbished in 2006 when the three panels were amalgamated into a single one including all the names from 1939 to the present day.