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
Shropshire Regimental Museum, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Thomas Valentine Price Location: Shropshire Regimental Museum, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 2AA The cross is located on the 1st floor of the museum amongst the collection dedicated to the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry from 1881-1968. The cross...
Henstead – St Mary’s Church, Suffolk
GEORGE FREDERICK FARMILOE Location: St Mary’s Church, Henstead, Suffolk, NR34 7LD Details on cross: HAC Crest. RIP 2nd Lieut G F Farmiloe 2nd Honourable Artillery Company INF Killed in Action 26.6.17 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Painted on...
Dyrham – St peters, Gloucestershire
Henry Wynter Blathwayt Location: St Peter’s Church Dyrham Gloucestershire SN14 8ER Details on cross: GRU MAJOR H W BLATHWAYT 74-BDE R.F.A. 30-11-18 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tags, stamped metal strips Cross dimensions (millimetres please)...
Croft Castle, St Michael and All Angels – Herefordshire
WILLIAM ALBERT SOMERSET HERBERT KEVILL-DAVIES Location: St Michael and All Angels Church (in the grounds of Croft Castle) Croft Herefordshire HR6 9PW Details on cross: GRU LIEUT W A S H KEVILL DAVIES 9-RES CAN REGT ATTD 9-LANCERS 18-5-15 Text type (e.g....
Middle Woodford – All Saints Church, Wiltshire
George Gordon Francis Greville Location: All Saints Church Middle Woodford Wiltshire SP4 6NR Details on cross: Top of shaft: GRU Crossbeam: 4 HUSSARS. GREVILLE. LIEUT. G.C.E. 31.3.18 Text type: GRU tags Cross Dimensions: Shaft Height: 1152mm Crossbeam width: 410mm...
Ruyton-XI-Towns – St John the Baptist, Shropshire
Roger Victor Cecil Hunt Location: St John the Baptist Church Street, Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire SY4 1LQ The cross is near the front of the church on the left hand side as you face the altar. The cross is mounted inside a small brick alcove. The cross commemorates 2nd...
Bootle – St Matthews, Merseyside
Unknown British Soldier Location: St Matthew's Church 410 Stanley Road Bootle, Liverpool Merseyside L20 5AE The cross is located low down on the wall on the left hand side as you enter the church. The cross is mounted on a marble tablet. Underneath the cross there is...
Ashill – St Nicholas, Norfolk
Kenneth George Haslam Ford & Frederick Cater Location: St Nicholas Church Ashill Thetford Norfolk IP25 7BT Cross 1 RIP: in memory of Lieut. K C Ford, Machine Gun Officer, 1st Cheshire Regt. Died of wounds received in Ploegsteert Wood, Dec 1st 1915. The cross is...
On the blog
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
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
