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
Lindfield – All Saints Church, West Sussex
Geoffrey Arthur Prideaux Location: All Saints Church High Street, Lindfield West Sussex RH16 2HS Location: This is the cross of Captain Geoffrey Arthur Prideaux MC. It is located on the on the east wall of the north transept (to the left of the altar as you face it)....
Christ Church Episcopal – Kincardine O’Neil, Aberdeenshire
Frank Pickering Location: Christ Church Episcopal Pitmurchie Road / Deeside Road Kincardine O'Neil Aberdeenshire AB34 5BF Details on cross: At the top of the shaft: A small plate, now indistinct (may be ICWG) The crest of the Royal Scots Greys, and in a scroll “In...
Noth Parish Church – Aberdeenshire
Location: Noth Parish Church The Square, Rhynie Aberdeenshire AB54 4EG Details on cross: Towards the top of the shaft: I W G C On the cross beam: LIEUT. C.G. GORDON 1/NORTHANTS. – -/9/14. A small plate has been attached further down the shaft which reads: THIS CROSS...
Coston – St Michael’s Church, Norfolk.
Norman Francis Wace Location: St Michael's Church Coston, Norfolk, NR9 4DT Details on Cross At head of upright GRU Cartouch G.R.U. On Crossmember GRU Tags x 3 5964 RFN F. WACE 13–RIFLE BRIGADE 4–1–18 Cross dimensions Standard British Army marker Other information...
Ballater – St Kentigern’s Episcopal Church, Aberdeenshire
ALLAN KEITH MACKENZIE Location: St Kentigern’s Episcopal Church Braemar Road, Ballater Aberdeenshire AB35 5RL Details on cross: Towards the top of the shaft: IN LOVING MEMORY OF On the cross beam: ALLAN KEITH MACKENZIE CAPTAIN. 3RD BATTN GRENADIER GUARDS. DIED OF...
Bromborough – St Matthews Church, Cheshire
Unknown British Soldier Location: St Matthews Church, York Street Bromborough Wirral, Cheshire CH62 4TY Details on cross: Slanting left to right upwards Metal GRU tag, 3-B-13 Metal Tag on Cross member Unknown British Soldier There is a plaque below which has been...
Darfield – All Saints Church, South Yorkshire
Charles Malin Clifton Sorby Location: All Saints Church Darfield South Yorkshire S73 9JX Details on cross: GRU 2ND LIEUT C M SORBY 3RD MONMOUTH REGT 8-5-15 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags Position of Cross: On the south wall of the south...
Car Colston – St Marys Church, Nottinghamshire
Philip Umfreville Laws Location: St Marys Church Car Colston Nottinghamshire NG13 8HZ Position: Propped against north wall beneath commemorative plaque to local soldiers who fell in WW I Details on cross: CAPT P U LAWS NOTTS & DERBYS. 20-9-17 Text type (e.g....
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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
