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
Linslade – St Barnabus Church, Bedfordshire
Edward Sayall and Sidney Howe Location: St Barnabus Church, Waterloo Road, Linslade, Bedfordshire, LU7 2N Cross 1 - Sidney Howe Details on cross: 1 piece of 12mm metal strip, near the top, embossed “IWGC” 3 pieces of 12mm metal strip in centre, embossed:...
Manx Museum, Douglas, Isle of Man
Thomas Sayle Corlett The Cross is held by: Manx National Heritage Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin Manx Museum, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3LY www.manxnationalheritage.im Marked with a GRU tag the marker is contained in a perspex case and on display. It appears to be a...
Cavendish – St Mary the Virgin, Suffolk.
Location: St Mary the Virgin, Cavendish, Sudbury CO10 8BA A Grade 1 listed building, St Mary is a rather beautiful church originally built in the 14th century, it has later 16th century and Victorian additions. It contains a memorial to Group...
Crondall – All Saints, Hampshire
James Windsor Lewis Location: Crondall, Hampshire Details on cross: SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF (diagonally painted) Lieut: James Windsor Lewis 1st Bn Welsh Guards (LATE 19th HUSSARS) KILLED IN ACTION 6-6-16 (diagonally painted) Text type (e.g....
East Stratton – All Saints Church, Hampshire
Frederick Thomas Newman Location: All Saints Church, East Stratton, Hampshire, SO21 3DU Details on cross: In Memory Of No. 116689 Gr Newman. F. 11th Hvy. R.G.A Killed In action 9/10/17 R.I.P. Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Hand painted Cross...
Headbourne Worthy – St Swithuns, Hampshire
JAMES CHARLES MARJORIBANKS HUNT Location: St Swithun's church, Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire, SO23 7JW Details on cross: Sacred to the Memory of Lieut J.C.M. Hunt “B” Batt. 47 Brigade RFA Killed In Action Aug: 10 1916 Text type...
Stoke Charity – Church of St. Mary & St. Michael, Hampshire
Gerald Hinton Bailey Location: Church of St. Mary & St. Michael, Stoke Charity, Hampshire Details on cross: Regimental Badge Lieut Gerald Hinton Bailey Durham Light Infantry Fell near Ypres Buried Bailleul Oct 20th 1915 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU...
Ditchling, St Margaret’s church – Sussex
UNKNOWN BRITISH SOLDIER Location: St Margaret's church 22 West Street, Ditchling, East Sussex, BN6 8TS The cross is displayed on the wall on the right hand side as you face the altar. The cross commemorates an unknown British soldier. Details on cross: 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
