Keep your hands off our war memorial.

That was the blunt message to proposals to move Totnes’s war memorial to another site, away from the relatives of the town’s war dead whose names are inscribed upon it.

They warned that the stone memorial is effectively a war grave for the men who died in the two world wars but whose bodies were never brought home.

On top of that, the War Memorials Trust has already said it is likely to oppose any move to shift the 97-year-old memorial and, ­

in collaboration with Historic England, has put into motion urgent proceeding to get it listed.

Kim Gray from Diptford, who has one relative named on the memorial, said its position is now “sacred ground” and that its very location in the churchyard of St Mary’s is an integral part of its role as a memorial.

She added: “When it was placed there, it was very important to the families because that was all there was.

“For me to know that this is where my relatives stood and wept is what’s important.

“When you start moving things, it lessens their value.”

The comments came at an ­emotionally charged meeting held specifically for the relatives of the war dead who are named on the memorial and held at Totnes Guildhall.

The meeting was called in response to proposals to create a new ‘place to remember’ in front of the town’s historic St Mary’s Church.

The proposals, which would involve shifting the memorial nearer to the road on the further side of the church entrance, is part

of broader proposals to reshape the historic heart of Totnes around the 15th-­century church put together by a partnership involving Totnes Trust, Totnes Parochial Church Council and Totnes Town Council.

Totnes Trust trustee Louis Victory outlined the thinking behind shifting the memorial, saying the present site leaves “limited space for large gatherings”, especially on Remembrance Day, when people taking part in the parade are forced to gather in the road.

He also said there is currently limited opportunity to list the names of 27 people missed off the memorial or anyone who has died in subsequent conflicts.

But relatives who ­attended the meeting were adamant that they did not want to see it moved.

Vera Harvey, who has

a relative listed on the ­memorial, told the meeting: “All the relatives in this room don’t want to see it moved.

“There are people who couldn’t come today who’ve said the same thing. Nobody wants it moved”

She called on the partnership behind the proposals to “respect our wishes and not move it – that’s what everyone wants”.

Jon Lindon, whose father and great uncle are named on the memorial, declared that it was wrong to shift the memorial and said the cash would be better spent on repairing the church.

He also pointed out that there are panels on the memorial where extra names could be added.

There were also concerns that the memorial is already being treated with disrespect, with people sitting, eating their lunch and changing babies on it – even using it to stub out their cigarettes. It was felt that moving it closer to the road would only make such problems worse.

Most of the relatives welcomed the wider proposals for the area around the church, but questioned whether the war memorial needed to be moved to achieve them.

At the end of the hour-long meeting, Mr Victory pledged that all their concerns would be publicised as part of a wider consultation about the project.

He pointed out that, when the memorial was built in 1921, it had been placed in its present position in the middle of the church pathway as a “compromise”, after original proposals to site it within the grounds of Totnes Castle had been vetoed by the castle’s owner, the Duke of Somerset.

He also admitted that the War Memorials Trust, set up to protect and ­conserve war memorials thoughout the UK, had written, saying it is likely to object to any plans to shift the Totnes war memorial.

He also said the trust had begun proceedings with Historic England to fast-track the listing of the memorial to give it further protection.