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
Minchinhampton – Holy Trinity Churchyard, Gloucestershire
CHARLES RICHARD NEWMAN Holy Trinity (Churchyard) Bell Lane, Minchinhampton Stroud Gloucestershire GL6 9BW Cross is outside in a poor state, probably a native built original memorial. The cross may not relate to teh CWGC grave next to it, but it is entirely possible it...
Knowle parish church, Warwickshire
HARVEY WALTER WATTS Knowle Parish church St John Baptist and St Lawrence & Anne 1717 High St, Knowle Solihull West Midlands B93 0LN Details on Cross: I.W.G.C. 8 36220. GNR H. WATTS 378/169 BDE R.F.A 12-4-18 A standard British Army cross with 4 GRU tags. the cross...
Petham, All Saints, Kent
Frederick Vivien Thompson Location All Saints Church, Church Lane, Petham, Kent, CT4 5RD, Petham shares with the Kent village of Chilham near Canterbury, the unfortunate distinction of having the first German bombs to fall on England during the Second World War. The...
Aber – St Bodfan Churchyard, Caernarfonshire
LLEWELLYN MORRIS Location: St Bodfan churchyard Abergwyngregyn Llanfairfechan LL33 0LN (Exact postcode unknown) Partial Survey: The cross is in a degraded condition and is still outside on Llewelyn's grave. He died of a fever contracted in the Dardenelles. This is...
Blanchland Abbey – St Mary’s Church, Northumberland
Location: St Mary's Church Clap Shaw Blanchland Northumberland DH8 9ST Rough Wooden Cross with weathered brass plaque to Mary Jewett/Jewitt. Difficult to read the wording. The cross is marked on Armistice Sunday, we don't have any clear idea why at this stage....
Hathersage – St Michaels, Derbyshire
G C Hodgkinson, George Holmes and L. M. Bucknill Location: St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Church Bank, Hathersage, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S32 1AJ Thanks to Simon Allen and John Needham for the photos, and John Needham for the report. Cross 1 Details on...
Bloxham – St Mary’s Church, Oxfordshire
Harry Ayres Location: St Mary's Church Church St, Bloxham, Banbury OX15 4PY Details on Cross Mostly unreadable. Painted in black on a white painted background. His name is just discernable as is his number and date of his death. Cross is outside and deteriorating....
Holy Trinity church – Hull, East Yorkshire
Unknown British Soldier Location: Holy Trinity church 10 King St Hull HU1 2JJ Details on Cross: Two GRU tags Top: GRU Location number - Unknown On beam: Unknown British Soldier Mounted to Pillar. Appears to be a standard British Army pattern cross. Photographic...
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
