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
Glendaruel – Kilmodan Church, Colintraive
Colin William Burnley Campbell Location address: KILMODAN CHURCH, Clachan of Glendaruel, Colintraive PA22 3AA Details on cross: D21 4 GRU I.W.G.C 2LT C W B Campbell 1st A and S Highlanders 26-6-15 Then punched plaque stating HERE LIES 2ND LIEUT. C.W.B. BURNLEY A...
West Alvington – All Saints Church, Devon
Location: All Saints, West Alvington, Devon, TQ7 3PN H.T.HILLS Details on cross: G.R.U. 55A19 25946 H.T.HILLS DEVONS Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): TAG Cross dimensions (millimetres please) Shaft Height: 1040mm Cross beam width: 410mm...
Richmond – Green Howards Museum, North Yorkshire
LIEUT. COL. B.H. CHARLTON M.C Location: Green Howards Museum Trinity Church Square, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 4QN Details on cross: 3 GRU Tags LIEUT. COL. B.H. CHARLTON M.C 47TH .RN .YORKSHIRE. REGT. 22.3.18 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved):...
Gulval – St Gulval Church, Cornwall
Lt. W.T.H. Bolitho Location: St Gulval Church, Gulval, Cornwall, TR13 3BE Details on cross: GRU Memorial Cross Lt. W.T.H. Bolitho 19 Hussars 24-5-15 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU Tags Cross dimensions (millimetres please)...
Epping – United Reform Church, Essex
Pte G W R Church Location: Epping United Reform Church,Lindsey Street, Epping, Essex, CM16 6RB Details on cross: IN LOVING MEMORY OF 52817 PTE G W R CHURCH 19th BATT D.L.I KILLED IN ACTION Cross and wreath on the top of the shaft Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU...
Elham – St Mary the Virgin Church, Kent
Charles Lindsay Murray Scott Location: St Mary the Virgin Church, Elham, Kent, CT4 6TH Details on cross: IN LOVING MEMORY OF CAPTAIN C.L.M. SCOTT. NORTH STAFFORD REGT. ATTD ROYAL FLYING CORPS. FEB 15 1917 “LEAD KINDLY LIGHT” Text type (e.g....
Gillingham – St. Mary the Virgin Church, Dorset
Lieut. R C Cross Location: The Chapel of the Good Shepherd, St. Mary the Virgin Church, Gillingham, Dorset, SP8 4AW Details on cross: Lieut. R C Cross Dorset Yeomanry Attached 2/4 Batt South Lanc’s Killed in Action 7 6 18. Also at the top of the cross are...
Cuxton – St Michael and All Angels, Kent
Frederick Stanley Sudds Location: St Michael & All Angels, Rochester Road, Cuxton, Rochester, Kent, ME2 1AF Details on cross: Text in four rows: GRU 3-D-2 21207 A-SGT.F. SUDD 7TH CANAN.BATT Text type (e.g. hand-written, 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
