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
Courteenhall – St Peter and St Paul, Northampton
2nd Lieut CBD Wake St Peter and St Paul, Courteenhall, Northampton, NN7 Details on cross: “In memory of” (and) “rest in peace” scribed in black paint on the shaft and on the square attached to the center of the cross beam “Of 2nd Lieut CBD...
Clackmannan – Parish Church, Clackmannanshire
CAPT THE HON R BRUCE Location: Clackmannan Parish Church of Scotland, Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire, FK10 4JG Details on cross: GRU tags CAPT THE HON R BRUCE 2-A&S HIGHLRS 26 8 14 Hier ruht ein Engl. Hauptmann. Hushland. Regt. Text type (e.g....
Cromer – Parish Church, Norfolk
Richard George Arthur Barclay Location: Cromer Parish Church, St Peter and St Paul, Church Street, Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9HH Details on cross: On cross : unknown airman On Canopy : This cross marked the desert grave of Squadron Leader...
Toxteth – St Margaret of Antioch, Merseyside
CPL K.W.Loggie Location: Princes Road, Toxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside, L8 1TG Details on cross: In memory of 106216 CPL K.W.Loggie, Coy RE 'H" Special, died of wounds 23-7-17. Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Hand painted ornate...
Solihull – St Alphege, West Midlands
CAPT. C. MARTINEAU Location: St Alphege, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 3RB Details on cross: Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): 4 Metal Tags. 3 horizontal detailing the casualty; CAPT. C. MARTINEAU. R. WARWICK. REGT. 5 - 5 - 18 . 1...
Selby – Selby Abbey, Yorkshire
Coy. Q. M. Sgt Harry Dawson Location: Selby Abbey, The Crescent, Selby, York, YO8 4PU Details on cross: In loving memory of Coy: Q. M. Sergt Harry Dawson 1st/6th W. Yorks. Who died of gun-shot wounds 3rd June 1915 in his 48th year. Grave H.81. Text type (e.g....
Brookwood – Saint Saviour’s Church, Surrey
Capt. H R Townsend Green Location: Saint Saviour's Church, Connaught Rd, Brookwood, Woking GU24 0AS Details on Plaque (Cross has rotted away): Queen’s Westminster Rifles Capt. H R Townsend Green 3rd March 1915 Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori Text type (e.g....
Binsted – Holy Cross Church, Hampshire
Lieut. W. Ogilvy Location address: Holy Cross Church, Binsted, Alton, GU34 4NX Details on cross : G.R.U Lieut. W. Ogilvy 23.3.18 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU metal Tags Cross dimensions (millimetres)- did not have tape measure so...
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
