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
Newton Stewart – All Saints, Dumfries and Galloway
Lieut.Col. F.A.W Armitage D.S.O NB: Cross appears to have been moved inside the church as of November 2017. Location: All Saints Challoch, Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, DG8 6RB Details on cross: R.I.P In loving memory of Lieut.Col. F.A.W Armitage D.S.O...
Kells Parish Churchyard, Dumfries and Galloway
PTE G ANDERSON Location: Kells Parish Churchyard, New Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway, Details on cross: 2 GRU tags 25032 PTE G ANDERSON 7/8 K.O.S.B Addenda - Mark Ratcliff - 6 November 2017 The dimensions of the cross are as follows Shaft height (to insertion in...
Castle Douglas – St Ninians Episcopal Church, Kirkcudbright
Location: St Ninians Episcopal Church, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, DG7 1EN 2/LIEUT. D. MC.I.G FERGUSON Details on cross: GRU TAG 14th May 1915 Handwritten in white paint on black painted metal : LIEUT. D. MC.I.G FERGUSON / 2/ K. 2 O.S.B...
Hendon – RAF Museum, London
Norman de Pomeroy and 2nd Lieut Arthur J Fischer (Fisher) Location: Hendon RAF museum, London, England, NW9 5LL, on display. Norman de Pomeroy Details on cross: Brass plate at front inscribed 'In Loving Memory of Norman de Pomeroy 2nd Lieut....
Bradfield – Bradfield College Chapel Archive, West Berkshire
Bradfield College Chapel Archive Location: Bradfield College Chapel Archive, West Berks, RG7 6AU A remarkable set of survivals all ex-Bradfield students, mostly in remarkable condition. Special thanks to Karen Ward for going to a huge amount of trouble sorting these...
Grange-Over-Sands – St Paul’s, Cumbria
Major H.Podmore Location: St Paul's, Crown Hill, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6DD Details on cross: In memory of Major H.Podmore, D.S.O, 6th Battn Northamptonshire regiment. Attached: 12th Battn Middlesex regiment. Accidentally killed December 31st...
Kings Bromley – All Saints Church, Staffordshire
George Roland Lane Location: All Saints Church, Church Lane, Kings Bromley, Staffordshire, DE13 7JL Details on cross: RIP IN MEMORY (angled type) OF CAPT. & ADJT. G.R.LANE. 2nd BATTN. COLDM. GD. KILLED IN ACTION date of death if present is...
Meole Brace – Holy Trinity Church, Shropshire
Unknown British Soldier Location: Holy Trinity Church, Meole Brace, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 9HF Details on cross: Punched metal strip UNKNOWN BRITISH SOLDIER Brass plaque engraved 1914-1918 THIS CROSS TEMPORARILY MARKED THE GRAVE OF AN UNKNOWN BRITISH...
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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
