Santon War Memorial to the two World Wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, stood for fifty odd years, following the first of these two Great Wars, at the corner of the Ballavale side of Station Road and the New Castletown Road, which today takes most of the traffic south to Ronaldsway Airport and beyond.
However, the demands of modem traffic escalation, with its increase in speed and noise, had made it virtually impossible over a good number of years to hold a Remembrance Sunday Service around the Memorial. Further more, these demands had also caused the Isle of Man Highway Board to consider seriously the state of this main Douglas to Castletown road with the result that their future plans made it necessary for a new home to be found for the Memorial.
After long and amicable negotiations, and consultations, at all levels, the Parish as a whole, at a Parish Meeting in 1975, called by the Captain of the Parish, finally decided that the Memorial should be re-sited adjacent to the new Parish Churchyard beyond St. Sanctain's Church. There it now stands sentinel in a setting of tranquility, peacefulness and beauty, facing the morning sun and overlooking fields, cliffs and the sea, a fitting memorial to those who paid the supreme sacrifice so that we could live free from terror, sleep peacefully, and enjoy living in freedom. The long range of hills behind (to the west) can be seen stretching from Bradda Head towards Snaefell and only enhance further the beauty of the setting.
The careful and expert attention given to the preparation and construction of this new site is a lasting tribute to the loving skill and devoted work of the Staff of the Highway Board, and all involved, at all levels, in the successful completion of this complicated operation.
The Memorial was re-dedicated in its new position in the late afternoon of Friday, 17th October, 1975, by the Right Reverend Vernon S. Nicholls, the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man in the course of a short Service in which the Rev. Harold Hughes, the Chairman of the Methodist District also took part, before a congregation of over sixty, who were led to the site from St. Sanctain's Church by sixteen members of the Choir. Three forward-looking and wise Headmasters and equally wise parents kindly co-operated in arranging for the children in the Choir to be there at the time, when another part of the history of Santon Parish was being created in their life time, and before their eyes.
Until recently the Roll of Honour existed only on an illuminated paper scroll within St. Sanctain's and in 2004 the Commissioners paid (from the rates) for the names of the fallen to be inscribed in a fitting manner on the war memorial itself.
