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
Deddington – St Peter and St Paul. Oxfordshire
Multiple crosses at St Peter and St Paul, Deddington, Oxfordshire St. Peter and St. Paul Church is in the civil parish of Deddington, about 6 miles south of Banbury. From Banbury, on reaching the village, turn left at the lights, then bear right into Market Place...
Parkgate and Neston United Reformed Church, Cheshire
Unknown British Soldier Location: Parkgate and Neston URC Moorside Lane, Parkgate, Cheshire, CH64 6UZ Details on cross: Near the top of the main shaft pointing upwards left to right is a GRU tag 2-G-4. Metal GRU tag on cross member “Unknown British Soldier”...
The Royal London Hospital Archives & Museum
EDITH CAVELL Location The Royal London Hospital Museum St Augustine with St Philip's Church Newark Street London E1 2AA http://bartshealth.nhs.uk/rlhmuseum The cross on display in the museum was put up on the site of her grave after her body was removed, c.1919. (The...
Marlborough College Chapel – Wiltshire
John Lindsay Kelsall Location: Marlborough College Chapel Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 1PA Details on cross: Top of shaft: GRU On cross beam: LIEUT J L KELSALL B/86 ARMY BDE RFA 27/8/17 Text type: GRU tags Cross Dimensions: Shaft height: 1140mm Cross beam width: 410mm...
Sanderstead – All Saints church, Surrey
Harold Montagu Newnham Chatterton Location: All Saints church, Sanderstead, Surrey CR2 9AB Details on cross: RIP IN MEMORY OF 2ND LIEUT. H. M. N. Chatterton 9TH QUEENS R.W.S. REGT KILLED 18TH JUNE 1916 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Carved Cross...
Beckington – Somerset. St George’s Parish Church.
Location: St George's Parish Church, Beckington, Somerset, BA11 6TG Survey and photographs courtesy of Alasdair Mackie. Date of survey: 23/09/2016 OLIVER J VINER Details on cross: GRU 9089 SGT O. J. VINER. K. R. R. C. 14/7/16 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags,...
Southwell, Nottingham – Private dwelling
Francis Brady Location: Private dwelling Southwell Nottingham NG25 Details on cross GRU4 17551 PTE F BRADY 2ND NOTTS & DERBY REGIMENT 24TH SEPTEMBER 1916 J393 Text type: GRU Tags (One tag appears to be missing) Cross dimensions (millimetres please) Shaft Height:...
St John’s Birkdale, Southport, Merseyside
Unknown British Soldier Location: St Johns Birkdale, Southport Merseyside PR8 4JP Details on cross: GRU Unknown British Soldier Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): 2 tags - 'GRU' at the top of the cross and 'Unidentified British soldier' on the crossbeam....
On the blog
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
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
