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
Hull – St Charles Borromeo Church, East Ridings of Yorkshire
UNKNOWN BRITISH SOLDIER Location: St Charles Borromeo Church, 2 Jarratt St, Hull HU1 3HB Details on cross: 2 GRU tags GRU UNKNOWN BRITISH SOLDIER Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags Other information Mounting to wall: Screwed to wall on top of...
Beverley – Minster, East Ridings of Yorkshire
OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 64TH INFANTRY BRIGADE Location address Beverley Minster, Minster Yard North, Beverley HU17 0DP Details on cross (Text content of cross): INRI Carved at top then two plates The top plate reads: TO THE HONOURED MEMORY OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF...
Barnton – Christ Church, Cheshire.
Unknown British Soldier Christ Church, 12 Church Rd, Barnton, Northwich CW8 4JH Details on cross: There are 2 GRU tags on the cross:- (1) 3-B-14 (2) Unknown British Soldier. Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): 2 GRU tags and a brass plaque....
Clayworth – St Peter’s Church, Nottinghamshire
CAPT. R.J.C. OTTER Location: St Peter’s Church, Clayworth, Nottinghamshire, DN22 9AB Details on cross: G.R.U. RIP IN MEMORY OF CAPT. R.J.C. OTTER Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): 1 x GRU tag. Otherwise hand-painted Cross...
Tottington – St. Johns Free Church, Greater Manchester
Capt. J.L. Horridge St. Johns Free Church, Kirklees Street, Tottington, Bury, Greater Manchester, BL8 3PJ Details on cross: Capt. J.L. Horridge on cross member, R A F on lower half of shaft Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Letters in...
Shrewsbury – Private Address, Shropshire
Capt. John Earnescleugh Brydon An exceptional unusual marker, due in part to the very recent construction of a replacement cross which will be returned to the family plot in Darlington Cemetery. Special thanks to Johnny Brydon for this fabulous story....
Winchester – Hospital of St Cross, Winchester
LIEUT E G C CLOWES Location: Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, SO23 9SD Details on cross (Text content of cross): G.R.U LIEUT E G C CLOWES 18.2.15 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU TAGS Other information Mounting to wall:...
Weston on Trent – St Mary the Virgin Church – Derbyshire
GNR EDWARD SHREEVE Location: St Mary the Virgin Church, Church Drive, Weston on Trent, Derbyshire DE72 2DR Details on cross: IN LOVING MEMORY OF GNR EDWARD SHREEVE 67659 105. SEIGE BATTERY R.G.A. KILLED IN ACTION JULY 23RD 1916 Text type: characters...
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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
