AS the nation prepares to remember our fallen war dead on the centenary of the end of World War One, focus in villages, towns and cities around the country will invariably be on war memorials.

After the horror of the Great War thousands of memorials were erected, with the names of those who gave their lives carved onto them for posterity.

It meant work for skilled stonemasons and letter carvers and, at a recent meeting of Bolton Family History Society, one of their modern day successors, master stonemason John Smith, of Crosby Memorials, spoke about the history of his profession.

Mr Smith, a member of the National Association of Letter Carvers, explained that his profession is a "dying trade" as machinery takes over from the hand carver.

He explained that traditional methods of cutting involve planning out the inscription and measuring for each letter before using a hammer and chisel to make a v shaped indentation so that a shadow is created, meaning the letter is more legible.

How carvings are made depends upon the type of stone used. Mr Smith explained that hard granite leaves a course finish which needs raised lead insertions whereas softer sandstone has strips of lead inserted.

Lead is used because it it dark, resistant to the weather and is easy to work with. As each letter is cut, pin holes are made to secure lead strips later.

Mr Smith stated that Italian marble is one of the preferred stones to work with because it is easily carved, with black lettering on white marble considered one of the best finishes. However, it is expensive.

These days, with many war memorials around the country nearing 100 years old, some of them are deteriorating and are now in need of restoration. Often it can involve recutting the lettering so that the names of those on the memorial continue to be known.

This involves processes such as reindenting the letters or, where words are illegible, tracing and re-carving the words.

Training methods and technology have changed the stonemason's art over the years, and Mr Smith recalled that he had to study for five years with a master mason before going freelance and has now carved an estimated 500,000 letters in his career.

nBolton's war memorial in Victoria Square, is an arch representing 'Struggle' on one side and 'Sacrifice' on the other. It is Grade II* listed, a composite of materials, created by Walter Marsden and was unveiled in July 1928 by the Earl of Derby.

Although the memorial bears an inscription reminding readers that the ultimate sacrifice was made to win a better world for us, no individual names are carved onto it.