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
Harpford, St Gregory, Devon
R. F. Miller Location: St Gregory, Harpford, Devon Details on cross: GRU 2/LT. R.F.MILLER DEVONS Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): TAG Cross dimensions (millimetres please) Shaft Height: 800mm including point Cross beam width: 660 Width of wood:...
Holy Cross, Colyton, Devon
J C C Barnes Location: Holy Cross, Colyton, Devon Details on cross: 19 APT.J.C.C.BARNES 8TH.SER.BATT BORDER REGION 29TH MAY 1916 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): TAG Cross dimensions (millimetres please) Shaft Height:...
Leckhampton, St Peters – Gloucestershire
Alfred Enoch and two unmarked crosses Location: St Peter, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire, GL53 0QJ (Cemetery of church) Cross 1 See additional information below Details on cross: Text type (tags, carved) Nothing – no tags Cross dimensions in mm Shaft Height 82 cm Cross...
Sturminster Newton – St Mary’s Church, Dorset,
John Morton Mansel-Pleydell Location: St Mary’s Church, Sturminster Newton, Dorset, DT3 6EG Details on cross: GRU 3 5.B.4 2ND LIEUT J.M. MANSEL-PLEYDELL 107TH BDE R.F.A 22ND SEPT 1916 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU Tags Cross dimensions...
Coddington – St Mary’s Church, Cheshire
John Hamon Massie and Hugh Aldersey Location:St Mary's Church, Coddington, Cheshire, CH3 9ED Cross 1: Lieutenant acting Capt Hugh Aldersey Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags 2 GRU tags on cross member Lieut/A/Capt H.Aldersey 10.3.18 space...
Sale, St Anne’s Church, Greater Manchester
Unknown British Soldier Location: St Anne's Church, Trinity Road, Sale, Greater Manchester, M33 3GD The cross is displayed towards the front of the church near the altar on the left hand side as you face the altar. The cross commemorates an unknown British soldier and...
Knutsford – St John the Baptist, Cheshire
George Arthur Bebbington Location: St John the Baptist, Church hill, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 6DH The cross is displayed in the memorial chapel which is located on the right hand side as you face the altar. The cross is sitting on a shelf in the centre. It...
Bishop Burton, All Saints, Hull, East Yorkshire
Location: All Saints, Bishop Burton, Hull, East Yorkshire HU17 8QB Details on crosses: two crosses but for the same person. First one appears to have been burnt on, the second has metal labelling as in GRU tags. 2nd Lieut R HALL WATT 1st Batt. Grenadier Guards killed...
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
