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
Coldstream – Anton’s Hill Cemetery, Berwickshire
Martin Hunter Location: Anton’s Hill Cemetery Coldstream, Near Leitholm, Berwickshire TD12 4JD (Approx) Details on cross: Examination of the cross seems to show that three GRU plates were once present. At the top of the shaft two nail holes and a “shadow” where a...
Granby – All Saints, Nottinghamshire
George GOODACRE All Saints Church Granby Nottinghamshire NG13 9PQ Position: In front of window on window sill, high up on south wall, opposite entrance Details on cross: GRU 3/E 12 211 56. PTE. G. GOODACRE 8/K. O.Y.L.I. 12-9-15 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags,...
Welborne – All saints, Norfolk
Geoffrey Barham Johnson Location: All Saints Church Lane, Welborne, Norfolk, NR20 3LN Details on Cross: IN MEMORY OF CAPTAIN G. B. JOHNSON 7th BATT. NORFOLK REGT. KILLED IN ACTION 22.11.15 RIP Text type: Hand-painted text. Cross dimensions Shaft Height:1670mm Width of...
Grasmere – St. Oswald’s, Cumbria
William Warwick Peascod Location: St. Oswald’s, Church Stile, Grasmere, LA9 6LP Cumbria Details on cross: Killed In Action Pte. W.W. Peascod 25261 Border Regt 5.11.17 Border Regt Badge Age 19 Text type: GRU Tag at top of cross painted over. Text is hand painted in...
Portree – St Columba’s Episcopal Church, Isle of Skye
Ronald Ian MacDonald Location: St Columba’s Episcopal Church Somerled Square, Portree Isle of Skye IV51 9EH Details on cross: Carved lettering on the Celtic circle, the shaft and the cross beam form:- “TO THE MEMORY OF CAPT. THE HON. R. I. MacDONALD. CAMERON...
Weston under Wetherley – St Michaels Church, Warwickshire
EDGAR AMBROSE PENGELLY Location: St Michaels Church Weston under Wetherley Warwickshire CV33 9BY Details on cross: CAPT E. A. PENGELLY. R.E. M.C. 213 ARMY TROOPS COY. R.E. Text type: Text carved into cross beam. Cross dimensions Shaft Height: 1050 mm Cross beam width:...
Ringmer – Church of St Mary the Virgin, East Sussex
Clement John Byron Location: Church of St Mary the Virgin, Church Hill, Ringmer East Sussex BN8 5JX Details on cross: There are no details on the cross. However there is a brass plaque underneath the cross which reads 'The original cross from the grave of Clement J...
Merrow – St John The Evangelist, Guildford, Surrey
Ronnie Pease Location: St John The Evangelist Merrow, Guildford Surrey GU4 7AA Details on cross: In Memory of LIEUT.R.H.P.PEASE 1st Battn Coldstream GDS Killed In Action 15-9-1916 Text type: Writing is in raised black lettering, and is on the square plate, shaft and...
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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
