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
Portsmouth – St Wilfrids, Hampshire
Evelyn Walter Cooley Location: St Wilfrid's Church, George Street, Portsmouth PO1 5RT This cross marked the grave of Cpl Evelyn Walter Cooley 23035 1st Battalion The Hampshire Regiment, who died on 23 August 1916 and is buried at Cambrin Churchyard Extension. he was a...
Gayhurst – St Peter, Buckinghamshire
Henry Osbert Samuel Cadogan Location: St Peter's Church, Gayhurst Ct., Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, MK16 8LG Details on Cross: HIER RUHT EIN ENGLANDER Plaque: IN LOVING MEMORY OF LT COLONEL HENRY OSBERT SAMUEL CADOGAN COMMANDING 1ST BATT. 23RD RT WELCH FUSLRS IN THE...
Orford Castle museum – Suffolk
Josef Obert This is not a returned cross, Josef was one of several victims of influenza at the POW camp in 1918. Location: Orford Museum, Orford Castle, Orford, Suffolk IP12 2ND Website: http://www.orfordmuseum.org.uk/ Details on Cross Hier ruht in Gott P.O.W. Josef...
Ford – St. Michaels Church, Shropshire
Four crosses - Ernest Anthony, George Henry Perry, John Parry and Edward Gordon Macgregor King Location: St. Michaels Church, Sevenford Gardens, Ford, Shropshire, SY5 9LE Ford Church is in the village of Ford (Shropshire) Enter Ford Village from the A458 Shrewsbury to...
Valley cemetery – Stirling
Lt Maurice Charles Mowbray Location: Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, Albert Place, Stirling FK8 2QL. Scotland A modern replacement or replica of an original battlefield cross. The original cross is believed to still exist but Stuart who reported on the site...
Longbridge Deverill – St Peter & St Paul Church, Wiltshire
William Walter Morrice Location: St Peter & St Paul Church, Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire, BA12 7DL Details on cross: Top of shaft: In Memory Of Crossbeam: CAPT W. MORRICE Bottom of shaft: LABOUR CORPS KILLED IN ACTION DECR 30 1917 Cross Dimensions: Shaft height...
Ozleworth – St Nicolas of Myra, Gloucestershire
John Neil Black & James Edward Power Clutterbuck Location: St Nicolas of Myra’s Church, Ozleworth, Gloucestershire, GL12 7QA St Nicholas of Myra's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Ozleworth, Gloucestershire, England. It is recorded in...
Penhow – St John the Baptist, Gwent
Trevor William James Location: St John the Baptist Church, Penhow, Newport, Gwent, NP26 3AA Details on Cross: 3184 - Trooper T. W. James Royal Gloucester Hussars 20-4-1917 From CWGC JAMES, TREVOR WILLIAM Rank: Private Service No: 235730 Date of Death: 20/04/1917 Age:...
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
