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
Armagh – St Patrick’s Anglican Cathedral, Armagh
LIEUT COL J S M LENOX CONYNGHAM Location: St Patrick’s Anglican Cathedral, Castle Street, Armagh, BT61 7EE Northern Ireland Details on cross: On the upper shaft: 6th BATT CONN. RANGERS On the cross beam: LIEUT COL J S M LENOX CONYNGHAM...
Peckleton – St Mary Magdalen Church, Leicestershire
SAPPER G.W. FALLODOWN Location: St Mary Magdalene Church, Peckleton, Leicestershire, LE9 7QE. Details on cross: W FALLODOWN 210/FLDCOY. R.E. Cross dimensions (millimetres please) Shaft Height: 835mm Cross beam width: 395mm Width of wood: 65mm...
Bexley – Boys and Girls Memorial Hall, Kent
Unknown British Soldier Location: Boys & Girls Memorial Hall, Lesley Close, Bexley, Kent, DA5 1LX Details on cross: None Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): It has no markings or GRU tags. Other information Mounting to wall: over the entrance door...
St Ervan – St Ervan Church, Cornwall
2/Lt A.C. FRY Location: St Ervan Church, St Ervan, Cornwall, PL27 7TA Details on cross: IWGC 2/Lt A.C. FRY 4/O AND BUCKS L.I. Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags Cross dimensions (millimetres please) Shaft Height: 1150...
Eydon – St Nicholas Church, Daventry
Pte. G. Fairbrother Location: St Nicholas' Church, Eydon, Northamptonshire, NN11 3PQ Details on cross: 40382 Pte. G. Fairbrother 2nd Bn Northants Died 28/4/18 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Hand painted in black Cross dimensions (mmillimetres...
Kensington – St Mary Abbots Church, London
Communal cross for the 22nd Royal Fusiliers (Kensingtons) Location: St Mary Abbots Church Kensington, London W8 4LA. Details on cross: Regimental logo 22 RF In proud memory of our comrades 375. Sgt. A.T. Herbert 6974. Cpl. B. Gibson 19468. Cpl. J. W...
Kishorn – Courthill Chapel, Strathcarron
Lieut A.H.MURRAY - Boer War Location: Courthill Chapel, Kishorn, Strathcarron, Highlands, IV54 8XD Details on cross: IN LOVING MEMORY OF Lieut A.H.MURRAY, GRENADIER GUARDS. DIED OF WOUNDS JUNE 3rd 1900 NOT DEAD BUT SLEEPETH Text type (e.g....
Bodmin – Cornwall Regimental Museum, Cornwall
2/Lieut W.T. Hichens 1/Bn DCLI Location: Cornwall Regimental Museum, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL31 1EG Museum Website Details on cross: Believed to be 2/Lieut W.T. Hichens 1/Bn D.C.L.I. 3 September 1916 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags...
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
