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
Ruan Minor – St Rumon’s Church, Cornwall
Capt. B.H. Vyvyan Location: St Rumon’s Church, Ruan Minor, Cornwall, TR12 7JL Details on cross: Capt. B.H. Vyvyan A/121 Bde RFA, DOW 18.8.1917 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Painted black lettering (possibly not original)...
Canmore – Forres Cemetery, Moray
Lieut. W.E.Hamblin - Very unusual stone cross Location: Forres Cemetery, Cluny Hill, Canmore, Moray Details on cross: The wording at the base of the original cross is ‘KILLED IN ACTION MAY 24th 1916’ Inscription on the 1925 base ‘ERECTED BY HIS BROTHER OFFICER [sic]...
Watton – The Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh, Powys
Albert Charles Ames Location: The Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh, Watton, Brecon Powys, LD3 7EB Details on cross: broken GRU tag R.U 22916 PTE. A.C.AMES 10/S. W. BDRS. 30-10-17 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags Cross dimensions...
Black Watch Museum – Perth
William Debnam McLaren Stewart Location: The Black Watch Museum, Balhousie Castle Perth, Perthshire PH1 5HR Details on cross: At the top of the cross shaft, indistinct may be the mark of a GRU plate On the shaft within a painted scroll: IN MEMORY OF On the...
Sutton Bonnington – St Marys Church, Nottinghamshire
Capt. G. L. Paget - Boer War Location: St Mary's Church, Sutton Bonnington, Nottinghamshire Details on cross: In Memory Of Capt. G. L. Paget Who Was Killed In Action Near this spot Oct 9th.. 1900 Facsimile of a Cross Erected by his Men At Vlakfontein 1st Battn Rifle...
Stewkley – St Michael and All Angels, Buckinghamshire
Lieutenant Claude Cressy Horsley Location: St Michael and All Angels Church, High Street North, Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, LU7 0HN. Details on cross: 3 GRU alloy tags: GRU Lieut CC Horsley 4th North Stafford Regt 29th November 1917 No.2448 Cross dimensions: Shaft...
Field Broughton – St Peter’s Church, Cumbria
Sergeant William Frearson Second World War marker Location: St Peter's Church, Field Broughton, Cumbria, LA11 6HR Details on cross: Sergeant W.FREARSON ROYAL AIR FORCE (VR) 28.8.43. There is also a regimental hand painted badge at the top of the cross. ...
Bow Street – Capel y Garn Cemetery, Ceredigion
CAPT Frederick Charles Davies Location: Capel y Garn Cemetary, Bow Street, Ceredigion, SY23 3EW Details on cross: SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF CAPT F.C. DAVIES. 104 FA. MB RAMC. ATT. 9TH (NH) NORTH LD. FUS H.S KILLED IN ACTION 17-10-17 “QUO FATA VOCANT” Text type...
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
