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
Guisborough – St Nicholas Church, North Yorkshire
Bernard Hedley Charlton Location: Saint Nicholas Church Town/village: Guisborough County: North Yorkshire Postcode: TS14 6BS Details on cross: The cross is high up on the north west wall of the Memorial Chapel and is difficult to access and to read tags. Bernard...
Chesterfield – St Peter and St Paul, Old Brampton, Derbyshire
Lord Henry Gorell (Barnes) Location: St Peter & St Paul church Town: Old Brampton, Chesterfield County: Derbyshire Postcode: S42 7JG Details on Cross: MAJOR LORD GORELL DSO 19th LONDON BATTy RFA KILLED IN ACTION 16.1.17 Text type: Hand painted in black Cross...
The Keep Military Museum – Dorchester, Dorset
Percy Worner Location: The Keep Military Museum, Town: Bridport Road, Dorchester, County: Dordset Postcode: DT1 1RN Details on Cross: Plain Cross Metal Tags GRU 2/LT . P. S. WORNER. 9/ DEVON. REGT 1.77 Cross dimensions: Unable to take measurements as on display in a...
Westbury – St Augustines, Buckinghamshire
St. Augustine in Westbury is a small church tucked away in a tiny Buckinghamshire village. As you go through the church gate, the village war memorial is in front of you. There are no names on it but a plaque with the roll of honour is inside the church. A huge 300...
Swaffham Museum, Norfolk
Donald Morton Bunting Location: Swaffham Museum Town/village: Town Hall, London Road, Swaffham County: Norfolk Postcode: PE37 7DQ Details on cross: GRU Catouche at top No6268 D PTE. D.M.Bunting. Killed in action 24th Nov 1915 Cross dimensions Unable to access as it is...
Monewden – St Mary’s, Suffolk
Sergeant Cyril H Tarrant – Suffolk Regiment Location: St Mary’s Church Town/village: Monewden County: Suffolk Postcode: IP13 7DA Details on Cross: SERGENT CYRIL H. TARRANT 12TH BN-THE SUFFOLK REGT Text type: Text on Cross is carved and painted black Cross dimensions...
Fleet – Holy Trinity, Dorset
Hugh Crawford Cavendish Location: Holy Trinity Church Town/village: Fleet County: Dorset Postcode: DT3 4EB Details on cross: GRU tag at the very point, damaged can only make out GR RIP On cross beam: MAJOR H.C CAVENDISH R.F.A Below: KILLED IN ACTION 1st Aug 16 Text...
Garston, St Michael’s, Merseyside
Unknown Location: St Michael's church Town/village: Garston County: Merseyside Postcode: L19 8EA Details on cross: Metal strips on top and cross member; illegible from ground level, woman from church said they did not know who it commemorated but thought the writing...
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
