THE PROJECT
THE HISTORY
THE SURVEY
LOCATIONS
Update
Hello all, this project is still open but is currently hibernating. We would love to complete it, but this is very dependent on time and whether we can secure additional funding to pursue it.
Thanks to everyone who has been involved, including those who still are, and all those who visit and comment or share, it has so far been a terrific success, we hope to extend that in the future.
In the meantime we fully intend to keep the site live in its current form, and are still taking any info you have with a view to one day finishing the database as time allows.
Nick & Tim. April 2023.
Recent marker reports
Wivelsfield – St Peter and St John, West Sussex
Allen Rhys Griffiths Location: St Peter & St John the Baptist Church Lane, Wivelsfield West Sussex RH17 7RD It is positioned on the wall near the back of the church directly facing the door as you go in. Details on cross: There are 4 GRU tags on the cross GRU 2/LT...
Shaugh Prior – St Edward, King and Martyr, Devon
JOHN HUTCHISON Strother Location: St Edward, King and Martyr, Shaugh Prior Devon PL7 5HA Details on cross In Memory of P J.H.Strother No 3265 21st Bat Rf Killed in action 9.08.1916 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Handwritten Cross dimensions...
Epsom – St Martin’s Church. Surrey
Charles John Woodward Alderton & Humphrey Halgrim Grundtvig Location: St Martin’s Church Epsom Surrey KT17 4PX (inside church, left wall, mounted to left of main war memorial) Cross 1 Details on cross: At top - small stamped zinc ‘GRU’ tag Inscribed plaque on...
Cockington – St George and St Mary, Devon
Charles Herbert Mallock DSO Location: St George and St Mary Blakes Hill Road Cockington Torbay Devon TQ2 6XA Details on cross In loving memory of Major C M Mallock DSO 23rd Army BDE RFA Died of wounds 5-11-17 Greater love hath no man But that he lay down his life for...
Holne – St Mary, Devon
A Leslie Pearce Gould Location: St Mary Holne Devon, TQ13 7SL Details on cross: RIP SURGEON A.L. PEARCE GOULD RMM Killed in Action 19-5-18 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU Tag on top, Small metal tag under neath, Script across horizontal beam with...
Felton – Church of St Michael and All Angels, Northumberland
Snowdon, Jeffrey, Robson and Potts Location: Church of St Michael and All Angels, Felton, Northumberland, NE65 9HP The unusual and historic church has an poignant commemorative stained glass window` Sacred to the memory of the men of Felton parish who fell in the...
Trent College – Nottingham
Albert Ball VC Location Trent College Chapel Derby Road, Long Eaton, Nottingham, NG10 4AD Website There is a second cross in the Officer's Mess at Biggin Hill for Albert Ball, which appears to be a more recently made version, more info soon hopefully. Details on Cross...
Edinburgh – Cramond Kirk, Midlothian
David Borthwick Tait Location: Cramond Kirk Cramond Glebe Road, Edinburgh Midlothian EH4 6NS Details on cross: At top of the shaft a GRU Tag:- GRU On the cross beam: 2/LIEUT TAIT. 5/6 ROYAL SCOTS. 17-8-18 Text type: All GRU metal tags Cross dimensions Shaft Height:...
On the blog
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About the project
Wooden Battlefield Crosses and grave markers exist all across Great Britain and indeed across the world. You can find them in churches, memorial halls, chapels, museums and private dwellings. Although various lists exist there is no definitive study of them; the available information is often buried in collections of other memorials. These are deeply personal connections with the people involved in the conflict and form a direct link to the families, loved ones and communities who were left behind.
The aim of this project is to try and provide an online resource which creates a place to find the information about these curious objects, where they exist, how to access them and what they meant a century ago, how they continue to be part of the communities they still exist in and how people continue to engage and respond to them as a link the link to First World War.
Ultimately the intention is to list every single battlefield cross or wooden grave marker returned from the lines in Europe to Great Britain after the war ended. The website will hopefully provide a resource that will give everyone access to information on as many of the locations and as much detail as possible about the stories surrounding the people whose graves they marked in France and their symbolic return to the people they left behind.
We need your help…
You can send us information on your local wooden crosses and battlefield markers, whether it be your own photos, photos you have permission to use from a local archive, details of the building and how the marker has become part of the story of it. We also need your research on the soldiers, their life and service, their families, the incidents surrounding their death and the eventual return of the grave marker to Britain and back to the community where the person came from.
We have provided an easy guide to help you to survey, photograph and research these sites and a rough but growing list of locations which we will hopefully be building on as more information comes to light. We will also be putting together an online guide looking at how and where to research the stories of the men these crosses are named for and how you might be able to look into the story behind them to build an online collection which everyone can use to explore these fascinating memorials.
Contact us
Have you done a survey or do you fancy having a go at one? Maybe you aren’t sure what to do or maybe you have already completed some research on a battlefield cross you’d like to add to the project or share via the website.
Perhaps you think you may have something nobody has seen in nearly a century in your loft or shed? Let us know.
Please send us an email to info@thereturned.co.uk
