Heritage Photography May 2025Journal of the Archaeology and Heritage Special Interest Group of the R
HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY
HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY
Journal of the Archaeology and Heritage Special Interest Group
May 2025
Editor David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org
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David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org
Archaeology & Heritage Group Committee Members
Chair Vacancy heritagechair@rps.org
Heritage Photography editor David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org
Honorary Secretary
Amanda Miller LRPS heritagesec@rps.org
Honorary Treasurer
David Bryson FRPS heritagetreasurer@rps.org
Web editor Jim Souper ARPS
Military Heritage and Distribution Shaun Parkes MA LDPS heritagemilitary@rps.org
Published by the Archaeology and Heritage Special Interest Group of the Royal Photographic Society, May 2025.
Copyright in all text and photographs are held by the credited authors, or as otherwise stated. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form without prior written permission of the Publisher.
Print ISSN 0958-0565
Online ISSN 2632-3346
Front cover: Cross of Sacrifice, Scopwick Burial Ground, at night. Photograph: Shaun Parkes MA LDPS
EDITORIAL
3 Perspective: Lest we forget DAVID BRYSON FRPS
4 Chair’s Chat: Vacancy DAVID BRYSON FRPS
WEBLINKS
5-7 Military Links SHAUN PARKES MA LDPS
PHOTOGRAPHS
8-9 Facebook Favourites
December, March and April 2024/25.
FEATURES
10-36 “TELL THEM OF US”: The stories behind the graves SHAUN PARKES MA LDPS
37-46 Helping to look after Cornish heritage ALAN BURCHELL
47-54 The splendour of a floor: St George’s Hall, Liverpool EDMUND WHITE
PERSPECTIVE: LEST WE FORGET
DAVID BRYSON FRPS
Welcome to the May issue of Heritage Photography.
We start with an important piece by Shaun Parkes, part of his successful MA project which looks at the war graves of many of the fallen that we commemorate this May as part of the 80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe; then we have Alan Burchell with a member’s story of their work supporting Cornish heritage, next we have photographs of the amazing floor from Liverpool’s St. George’s Hall brought to us by Edmund White.
Plea for more contributions
As always please remember that this is your publication and without your photographs with or without writing I cannot put together great issues for our membership.
If you have any ideas for articles or series of
photographs or would like to get feedback about an idea for a submission please contact me by e-mail. heritage.editor@rps.org
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Do remember to add and if necessary update your e-mail details on your RPS profile so we can contact you through the RPS’s Broadcast system to make sure you receive digital copies of the journal and our newsletters.
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Church and its miniature memorial from Crete commonly seen at sites of Road Traffic accidents.
CHAIR’S CHAT: VACANCY
First I would like to give a big thank you to Heather Laurence who has been our chair for the past two years. At the recent 2025 AGM Heather relinquished the position but unfortunately no one volunteered to become chair so once the current committee has met we will be arranging an Extraordinary General Meeting specifically to look at recruiting new committee members and a chair. Without specific members undertaking roles we cannot continue as a Special Interest Group.
Please e-mail our Secretary orany othere member of the committee if you would liketo volunteer.
Recently we have seen some significant additions to online military resources one has been the digitisation of the magazine Soldier which includes current editions and an archive dating back to 1945 the archive can be searched online, go to https:// soldier.army.mod.uk/archive
Interesting articles include “Into battle with a camera” by Captain JW Shaw from March 1946.
Certainly an unequalled resource for members interested in Military History and Heritage.
Please suggest you own favourite weblinks to be included in Heritage Photography like the weblinks on the following pages by Shaun Parkes .
DAVID BRYSON FRPS
WEBLINKS
ROYAL NAVY / MILITARY / RAF MUSEUMS
As part of my recent MA Photography project, one of the ‘public outcomes’ was my website www.tellthemofus.uk. I have recently added a useful links page which contains many links to military, Royal Navy and RAF museums, with ‘clickable’ links. These are repeated here in the hope that they may be of interest and of use to members. The list is by no means exhaustive and will be regularly updated, so please do check the website page https:// tellthemofus.uk/useful-links from time to time. SHAUN PARKES MA LDPS,
Please check with the relevant museum before travelling to check on opening times, access information, facilities including parking and disabled visitor facilities.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. To research casualty details or details of CWGC cemeteries. https://www.cwgc.org
National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire DE13 7AR https://www. thenma.org.uk
RAF Museum London (Hendon), Grahame Park Way London, NW9 5LL SAT NAV: NW9 5QW https:// www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/
RAF Museum Midlands (RAF Cosford), Lysander Avenue, Cosford, TF11 8UP SAT NAV: WV7 3EU https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/midlands/
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Visitor Centre, RAF Coningsby, Dogdyke Road, Coningsby, Lincs., LN4 4SY. https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/historyheritage/battle-britain-memorial-flight-visitorcentre
The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, East Kirkby Airfield Nr Spilsby Lincolnshire PE23 4DE https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/lots-to-see/aircraft/ lancaster
Newark Air Museum. Newark [Notts & Lincs] Air Museum Ltd Drove Lane, Newark. Nottinghamshire NG24 2NY https://www.newarkairmuseum.org
The International Bomber Command Centre, Canwick Avenue, Lincoln, LN4 2HQ. https:// internationalbcc.co.uk
National Museum of the Royal Navy (Hartlepool),
Jackson Dock, Maritime Avenue, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ https://www.nmrn.org.uk/visit-us/hartlepool
National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard https://www.nmrn.org.uk/visitus/portsmouth-historic-dockyard
HMS Caroline, Belfast. National Museum of the Royal Navy -HMS Caroline, Alexandra Dock, Queens Rd, Belfast, BT3 9DT. https://www.nmrn. org.uk/visit-us/hms-caroline
Royal Marines Museum. Work was due to begin in February 2025 on a new museum for the Royal Marines after nearly a decade on the sidelines. https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2024/ november/22/20241122-work-to-start-on-new-royalmarines-museum
The Fleet Air Arm Museum, RNAS Yeovilton, Ilchester, BA22 8HT https://www.nmrn.org.uk/visitus/fleet-air-arm-museum
The D-Day Story, Clarence Esplanade, Portsmouth, PO5 3NT https://theddaystory.com
National Army Museum Royal Hospital Road London SW3 4HT https://www.nam.ac.uk
List of Army Regimental Museums in England (on Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Category:Regimental_museums_in_England
Airborne Assault- Museum of the Parachute Regiment & Airborne Forces. Museum of the Parachute Regiment & Airborne Forces, Imperial War Museum Building, IWM Duxford, CB22 4QR. https://www.armymuseums.org.uk/listing/airborneassault-museum-of-the-parachute-regimentairborne-forces/
Lancashire Infantry Museum, Fulwood Barracks, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 8AA. Access and Security. Please read - important visitor access and security
information. Fulwood Barracks remains an active military establishment and operates necessary and appropriate security arrangements including control of access. This will not unduly impede your visit to the Museum but please note that ADULT VISITORS WILL BE ASKED TO PRODUCE POSITIVE PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION, SUCH AS A UK PHOTO-ID DRIVING LICENCE. On arrival at the Main Gate, please visit the Guardroom, where you will be issued with personal visitor passes for each member of your party and directed to the Museum. If arriving by car, please halt temporarily in one of the lay-bys in front of the Main Gate before visiting the Guardroom. Once issued with your passes, you will be directed to the Barracks’ ample free-of-charge parking area. https://www. lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk/loyal-regiment
Lincolnshire Regiment Museum. The Museum of Lincolnshire Life, which houses the regimental collection, Burton Rd, Lincoln LN1 3LY. https://www. lincolnshire.gov.uk/museumoflincolnshirelife
Museum of the Staffordshire Regiment (and its predecessors). Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Defence Medical Services Lichfield, WS14 9PY
https://visitlichfield.co.uk/listing/staffordshireregiment-museum/ Army Flying Museum, Middle Wallop, Stockbridge, Hampshire, SO20 8FB. Includes the history and artefacts of the Glider Pilot Regiment.
https://armyflying.com
The Green Howards Museum, Trinity Church Square Richmond, North Yorkshire DL10 4QN
https://greenhowards.org.uk
Air Force Museum of New Zealand, 45 Harvard Ave, Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand.
https://airforcemuseum.co.nz
The Royal Lancers, The Sherwood Rangers, and the South Nottinghamshire Hussars. The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum, Thoresby Hall, Thoresby Park, Nr. Ollerton, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG22 9EP,
https://rlnymuseum.co.uk
The Gurkhas.
The story of Gurkha service to the Crown since 1815, particularly the four Gurkha regiments that transferred to the British Army in 1944; The Royal Gurkha Rifles, The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, The Queen’s Gurkha Signals, and the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistics Regiment. The Gurkha Museum, Peninsula Barracks, Romsey Road, Winchester, SO23 8TS.
https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk
The story of the East Anglian Regiments forming the Royal Anglian Regiment from 1964; 1st East Anglian Regt (Royal Norfolk & Suffolk); Duchess of Gloucester’s Own Royal Lincolnshire & Northamptonshire; 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot); Royal Leicestershire Regt. Part of the IWM Duxford Land Warfare Centre. The Royal Anglian Regiment Museum Duxford Airfield Duxford Cambridge CB22 4QR.
https://www.royalanglianregiment.com/museum/
The Royal Yorkshire Regiment Museum including the collections of the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire, and the Royal Dragoon Guards, and the descendant regiment of the Prince of Wale’s Own, The Royal Yorkshire Regiment. The York Army Museum is in the centre of York on Tower Street, opposite Clifford’s Tower and next to the Hilton Hotel. York Army Museum, Tower Street Drill Hall, 3 Tower Street, York, YO1 9SB.
https://yorkarmymuseum.co.uk
The Durham Light Infantry Museum
The museum tells the story of the Regiment from its raising in 1758 to its absorption into the Light Infantry in 1968, with particular emphasis on the two world wars.. The Durham Light Infantry Museum, The Story, Mount Oswald, South Road, Durham DH1 3TQ.
Part of the Suffolk & Cambridgeshire Regiments’ Museum, the museum details the history of the Suffolk Regiment from 1685 until amalgamation with the Royal Norfolk Regt in1959. The Keep, Gibraltar Barracks, Out Risbygate, Newmarket Road, Bury Saint Edmunds IP33 3RN.
https://www.suffolkregimentmuseum.co.uk
Royal Signals Museum, Blandford Camp, Dorset DT11 8BJ. ACCESS INFORMATION: The camp is not easily accessed by public transport. The Museum is inside a working Army Camp. All adults must book in. Adults 16+ must bring a valid personal PHOTO ID to be permitted entry (E.g. driving license or passport or MOD90 for serving personnel). You will be issued with a Visitor pass and if travelling by car, a vehicle pass. There is allocated parking for Museum Visitors. If on arrival the bays are full just let staff know and they will find you a space.
https://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk
Royal Army Medical Corps Museum of Military Medicine
The Royal Anglian Regiment.
Keogh Barracks, Mytchett Place Road. Mytchett. Surrey, GU12 5RQ which is easily accessible by car from the M3.. The museum is located at Keogh Barracks, an active Army base, please bring some
photographic identification with you to obtain a pass at the main gate of the barracks. The barracks are at the lower end of Mytchett Place Road, to the south of Potter’s Restaurant and the Basingstoke Canal Centre.
https://www.museumofmilitarymedicine.org.uk/ news
The Rifles Museum
The Rifleman’s Museum, Peninsula Barracks, Romsey Road, Winchester, SO23 8TS. One of 6 regimental museums at the location.
https://riflemansmuseum.co.uk
The Rifles (Berkshire and Wiltshire) Museum
CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT, PLEASE CHECK WEBSITE FOR UPDATES. The museum of the infantry regiments of Berkshire and Wiltshire. The Wardrobe, 58 The Close, Salisbury, SP1 2EX
https://www.thewardrobe.org.uk
The King’s Own Scottish Borderers. (Now the Royal Scots Borderers following several mergers and amalgamations over many years.).
CURRENTLY CLOSED AS PART OF THE LIVING BARRACKS PROJECT AND DUE TO RE-OPEN LATE 2026, PLEASE CHECK THE WEBSITE FOR FURTHER DETAILS. The Barracks, The Parade, Berwick-uponTweed, TD15 1DG
https://kosb.co.uk/museum/ Runnymede (Commonwealth) Air Forces Memorial
A beautiful CWGC Memorial commemorating 20,263 members of the Commonwealth Air Forces who lost their lives whilst flying from the UK & NW Europe during WW2, and who have no known grave. The Memorial overlooks the River Thames on Cooper’s Hill at Englefield Green, between Windsor and Egham on the A308, 4 miles from Windsor. Address: Cooper’s Hill Lane, Englefield Green, Egham TW20 0LB
Volunteers in Calgary place crosses, flags, and candles, along Memorial Drive to commemorate family members from the area who served and gave their lives. Photograph: Ted Burchnall.
APRIL: TRANSPORT HERITAGE
Ship carving from Borobudur Temple, Java. David Bryson FRPS
‘TELL THEM OF US’ – THE STORIES BEHIND THE GRAVES
We take the subject of ‘Remembrance’ very seriously in the UK and the wider Commonwealth, and rightly so. Remembrance takes various forms and is not just limited to the headline events at the Cenotaph every Remembrance Sunday, or the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall the night before. This project looks at one way in which Remembrance is observed through the war graves and memorials to the missing. It will also look at casualties from other nations, including the German casualties looked after by the Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC), and the American casualties looked after by the American equivalent of the CWGC.
SHAUN
PARKES MA LDPS
A Panoramic view of The Reichswald Forest British War Cemetery at Kleve, Germany, hinting at the huge size of the cemetery.
Oosterbeek Cemetery. Standard Grave of an Unidentified Soldier of the 1939 – 1945 War, “Known unto God”.
Reichswald Forest British War Cemetery at dusk.
Just about every town and village has a War Memorial, usually erected after the ‘Great War’ or ‘World War One’ (WW1). These local war memorials are usually the site of local Remembrance Services and parades. On these memorials are engraved the names of residents who lost their lives in the war, mainly in military service, but sometimes civilians such as nurses or merchant seamen too, and less commonly, residents killed by enemy action e.g. Zeppelin roads, enemy naval gunfire, or enemy air attacks. Many local churchyards and cemeteries also contain ‘War Graves’, looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Originally known as The Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC), now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) - was founded by Royal Charter in 1917 and commemorates the 1.7 million men and women from the Commonwealth who lost their lives in the two World Wars. Just 20 years after the end of the World War 1, “the Great War”, the “War to end all Wars”, Europe and then the World was sucked into another conflagration, The Second World War (WW2), after which many additional memorials and additions to memorials, and many more cemeteries and graves were required.
Battlefield Graves to Cemeteries
‘The Fallen’ were normally buried near to where they fell, out of respect for the dead but also for practical reasons of hygiene and disease prevention. The large-scale casualties of WW1 presented a problem in terms of handling the numbers of bodies, which left untreated would become major health hazards. In 1914 a former journalist and civil servant named Fabian Ware led a British Red Cross mobile ambulance unit to France. Realising the scope of the issue, Ware petitioned the military authorities to turn his ambulance unit into a specialist team for handling the dead. The War Office agreed, realising the benefit to morale if troops knew that they would be treated with respect and care if they were killed. Ware’s unit became the Graves Registration Commission and later the Directorate of Graves Registration and
Enquiries (DGRE).
Quite often the dead could not be identified, especially in the muddy and shell-cratered trench warfare of WW1. The dead were buried and graves marked, and as much detail as possible was recorded, including where possible name, service number, rank and unit (Regiment) and exact location of the burial. In many cases, casualties were buried in communal graves, sometimes in the shell craters where they perished, and which were filled in to create the communal grave and communal markers installed listing the names together.
Graves were often destroyed by later battles, particularly through artillery shellfire, and were lost, hence the hundreds of thousands of personnel from both World Wars with no known graves.
Casualties who could not be identified were buried in marked graves with the inscription “Known unto God”. Where rank and / or unit was known, this would be inscribed on the headstone too. The phrase ‘Known unto God’ was selected by the poet Rudyard Kipling, whose son John Kipling was killed at the Battle of Mons in 1915, being listed as ‘Missing, presumed Killed in Action’, and it is believed that this motivated his father to join the IWGC.
Casualties were buried without distinction of rank or status, achieving equality in death; officers were buried next to their men in identical graves, the only difference being the rank inscribed on the headstone. Only in unusual circumstances were bodies repatriated home to be buried in the UK.
Consolidation of Graves, and Memorials to the Missing
During the Second World War, the same process occurred where casualties were buried where, or near to where, they fell; casualties who could not be identified were buried with headstones inscribed as ‘Known unto God’ as in WW1. Crews from individual aircraft were, wherever possible, buried together in adjacent graves.
Grave of Rifleman (Oliver) Frank Pennefather, 2nd Battalion, 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade, died 10th July 1916. Buried Ration Farm Military Cemetery, La Chapelle-d’Armentieres, France
The vast Tyne Cot Cemetery with the Tyne Cot Memorial in the background.
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery; the majority of graves being Royal Air Force and Commonwealth airmen, with some other nationalities too.
Flying Officer John Edward Northend of Sheffield.
Private James Stokes VC
After both wars, graves were often consolidated on a geographic basis and local war cemeteries created to bury the fallen together. Some cemeteries became very large, reflecting the ferocity and violence of major battles such as The Somme where thousands of soldiers were killed. For example, the Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium started as a battlefield cemetery but was greatly expanded after the Armistice, and now contains 11,961 Commonwealth graves, of which 8,373 are of unidentified casualties. The adjacent Tyne Cot Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 UK and New Zealanders who perished in the Ypres Salient and who have no known grave.
Similarly after WW2, when the Reichswald Forest British War Cemetery was constructed, casualties were brought in from many other cemeteries and consolidated there. There are now 7,594 Commonwealth servicemen, and 78 from other countries, mainly Poland, buried in the cemetry. 176 of those buried there are unidentified.
As well as the cemeteries, memorials were created to commemorate and record the names of the thousands of soldiers with no known grave, such as the famous Menin Gate Memorial, one of four memorials to the missing in Flanders covering the area known as the Ypres Salient.
In WW2, with the massively increased use of aircraft, thousands of aircrew were lost with aircraft crashing into the North Sea, the Atlantic, and other bodies of water. Over 20,000 aircrew with no known graves are commemorated at the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.
A cousin on my father’s side of the family, Flying Officer John Northend, was killed in action when his Lancaster came down west of Mettman in Germany in the early hours of 13 January 1943. John was the navigator, and he and his entire crew were killed in the crash, the cause of which is unknown, as my research shows that there were no outstanding Luftwaffe ‘Nacht Jager-Pilot (night fighter pilot) claims nor were there any outstanding anti-aircraft artillery (‘flak’) claims for that night. The crew were originally buried in the Nordfriedhof cemetery in Munich, but after the war they were reinterred in the CWGC Reichswald Cemetery, as an intact crew in sequential graves.
Also buried in the Reichswald is Private James Stokes VC, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. On 1st March 1945, during an attack on Kervenheim, Private Stokes was a member of the leading section of his Platoon. During the advance the Platoon came under intense rifle and medium machine gun fire from a farm building and was pinned down.
The Platoon Commander began to reorganise the Platoon when Private Stokes, without waiting for any orders, got up and, firing from the hip, dashed through the enemy fire and was seen to disappear inside the farm building. The enemy fire stopped and Private Stokes reappeared with twelve prisoners. During this operation he was wounded in the neck.
This action enabled the Platoon to continue the advance to the next objective, and Private Stokes was ordered back to the Regimental Aid Post. He refused to go and continued the advance with his Platoon.
Stokes repeated this action time and again, until at last, without waiting for orders, although now severely wounded and suffering from loss of blood, he dashed the remaining 60 yards to the objective, firing from the hip as he struggled through intense fire.
He finally fell 20 yards from the enemy position, firing his rifle until the last, and as the Company passed him in the final charge, he raised his hand and shouted goodbye. Private Stokes was found to have been wounded eight times in the upper part of the body. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery
One of two Dutch Resistance fighters, Hendrik Beekhuisen, was quoted in an article “August F.M. Bakhuys Roozeboom, the forgotten Commando of Arnhem, 1944”, published in 1980 by Major A L J van Viet of the Military History Section of the Royal Dutch Army Service Corps:
“We had to put on British uniforms. We got hand grenades and ammunition for our rifles. There was also an interpreter with us as we could hardly speak any English. This was a young soldier with a green (Commando) beret. His name was Bakhuys and he took us outside to the jeep with a British major and four soldiers. With eight men on the jeep, legs hanging outside, the Major at the steering wheel, we drove towards the bridge. Near it we were shot at from both sides but were not hit.
Bakhuys told us that the Major had decided to go back as we were surrounded by Germans, we would try to get back to Oosterbeek; about ten Germans started shooting at us from the bridge with automatic weapons. Bakhuys was throwing hand grenades while the Major was driving. Suddenly I realized that Bakhuys was sinking in between the Major and I without a sound. It was a miracle to me that we were still alive. We stopped in Oosterbeek near a church which had been turned into a hospital and the Major and I looked to see where Bakhuys had been wounded. We soon saw that he had been hit in the head and must have died immediately”.
Arnhem Oosterbeek Cemetery, Stone of Remembrance, 2 weeks after the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem.
Arnhem Oosterbeek Cemetery, Cross of Sacrifice, 2 weeks after the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem
Grave of Lieutenant John Grayburn VC, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. Killed in action at Arnhem.
Lieutenant H E “Jimmy” Pearson MC, 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron, Reconnaissance Corps. Posthumously awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the Battle of Arnhem.
Private August Ferdinand Marie Bakhuis-Roozeboom, No. 2 (Dutch) Troop, No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando, attached HQ 1st British Airborne Division. Killed in action near the Hartenstein Hotel, Arnhem 19 Sept 1944.
Dunkirk Town Cemetery
Graves of Lt Col James Gerald Fitzmaurice MC, Officer Commanding 4th Royal Tank Regiment, and his radio operator Corporal Alan Moorhouse, killed when their tank was destroyed. Dunkirk Town Cemetery. Image: Jo Parkes October 2024
UK Burials
Most of the casualties buried in the UK died in training accidents, in damaged aircraft crash landing when returning from operations, died in hospital after being wounded and evacuated back to the UK, died from illness or disease, or were bodies washed ashore from ships sunk off our shores or from aircraft that crashed into the sea.
One of the famous casualties was Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), who became famous as the author of the poem ‘High Flight’. Magee was the 19-year-old son of an English missionary mother and American missionary preacher, who was left stranded in the USA whilst visiting his father’s family when WW2 broke out. Unable to get back to the UK, he illegally crossed the border into Canada to enlist in the RCAF where he trained as a fighter pilot before being posted back to the UK. He lost his life in a mid-air collision, a flying training accident, near Ruskington in Lincolnshire on 11th December 1941. He is buried at Scopwick in Lincolnshire.
There are also several hundred Polish casualties buried in England, again mainly aviators flying with the Polish squadrons in the RAF, many of whom are buried in the CWGC area of Newark Cemetery in Nottinghamshire.
Josef František was not Polish but was a Czech. Initially popular, František’s colleagues disliked his habit of just dropping out of the Squadron’s formation and going off on his own to hunt for targets. In a unique compromise, František as a Czech was officially considered a ‘guest’ in the Polish Squadron and was therefore allowed to break formation and fight alone, as long as in so doing he did not endanger the lives of any of his colleagues.
He claimed 17 kills and was the highest-scoring individual on 303 Squadron at the time of his death in October 1940, a day after his 26th birthday.
Ironically, Josef František was not killed in combat, but was killed in a flying accident when his Hurricane fighter’s wingtip clipped a tree at low level and he crashed.
German Casualties buried in the UK
Also buried in Scopwick are 5 German casualties, 4 were killed when their Dornier 217 intruder aircraft was shot down by a Mosquito night fighter after bombing Lincoln, the fifth Walter Boerner being a German Army prisoner of war who died in 1946. Most of the German graves in the UK are of German prisoners of war brought to the UK and who succumbed to injuries after capture.
There are over 1,000 other German WWII casualties
buried individually or in small numbers elsewhere in the UK, such as the 11 Luftwaffe fallen buried at St. Mary’s at Great Bircham, on the outskirts of the Royal Estate at Sandringham; it has been postulated that the ‘discovery’ of these 11 graves gave rise to the introduction to Jack Higgin’s bestselling novel “The Eagle has Landed”. These 11 airmen were shot down over the North Sea and their bodies washed up on the Norfolk coast and taken to Great Bircham for burial.
One of the casualties, Corporal Helmut Seidel, was killed when his Heinkel HE111 H-3 was shot down by Flight Lieutenant Guy Gibson, later famous as the leader of the Dambusters, who had volunteered to serve a tour as a night fighter pilot immediately after completing one of his tours on bombers, rather than ‘resting’ as an instructor. Seidel’s date of death is given as the date that his body washed ashore on 2nd June 1941, although he almost certainly perished when the aircraft was shot down on 15th March.
There is a major German Cemetery at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, where 4929 Germans and Austrians are buried, 2143 from WW1 and 2786 from WW2. The graves are maintained by the CWGC under an inter-Government agreement between the UK and German Governments.
The highest ranking German buried at Cannock is Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) Ernst Buch, a WWI war hero who surrendered to Field Marshal Montgomery on 4 May 1945 and was transferred to a Prisoner of War camp in Aldershot in England, where he died from an angina attack on 17 July 1945. He was initially buried at Aldershot Military Cemetery, later being re-interred at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery.
American Casualties in the UK
The American equivalent of the CWGC is the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). The American casualties in the UK are mainly concentrated in two cemeteries, at Brookwood in Surrey and at Madingley near Cambridge. 3811 War dead are buried at Madingley and 5,127 names are recorded on the Walls of the Missing.
Summary
Originally my project started just as a subject for my photography with no real purpose. I later wrote an article for Heritage Photography about Pilot Officer J G Magee Jr. From there my interest in war graves developed slowly but without a specific objective until I started my part-time master’s degree in photography with Falmouth University in 2022, when the topic became an almost obvious choice for the final major project. Thus began my
serious interest in researching and photographing the graves, memorials and cemeteries, including a two-week lightning tour of north-west Europe in October 2024 to generate further and more varied imagery for the project.
The project is certainly not finished, as I have many ideas for more articles and books in the future. There is a possibility of some Far East content as I may have an opportunity of being based in China for a few years which makes possible exploration of the Far East War Cemeteries – watch this space!
In the interim, please feel free to visit my website at URL https://www.tellthemofus.uk
Entrance to the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede.
Cloister at Runnymede Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial listing aircrew missing with no known grave.
Pilot Officer John GIllespie Magee Jr. buried at Scopwick Burial Ground, Scopwick, Lincs.
Flight Sergeant Josef František DFM & Bar, No. 303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron RAF. Northwood Cemetery.
RAF graves in the RAF plot at Brookwood Military Cemeteries.
Over 350 Polish graves in the CWGC plot in the Newark-Upon-Trent municipal cemetery.
Harefield Australian Military Cemetery.
Harefield Australian Military Cemetery.
Deutsche Soldatenfriedhof - German Military Cemetery - Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.
German graves at Scopwick.
Field Marshal Ernst Busch, Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery.
American Military Cemetery and Memorial, Madingley, Cambridge
A vast sea of graves at Madingley near Cambridge.
The Walls of the missing honouring 5,127 Americans Missing in Action with no known graves, Madingley near Cambridge. Most died in the air bombardment of Europe, or in the Battle of the Atlantic. Those since recovered and identified are denoted by a rosette next to their names on the walls.
One of our members Alan Burchell hard at work read more about his story in the next pages.
HELPING TO LOOK AFTER CORNISH HERITAGE.
I have been a member of English Heritage for a number of years. I obtained a bachelors and masters degrees in archaeology from Exeter University as a mature student following my career in the military and police, About four years ago I started to volunteer as a Free Sites Monitor, a photographic volunteer and recently a volunteer conservator at the English Heritage archives in Somerset and at Pendennis Castle, Falmouth.
ALAN BURCHELL
Living in Cornwall I am surrounded by archaeology, from the Palaeolithic to the mining industry. As an English Heritage free sites monitor, I have responsibility to check and report back on the condition of seven sites, from a standing stone to a castle.
The sites monitored:
1. Dupath Well
2. The Hurlers Stone Circles
3. Trethevy Quoit
4. King Doniert’s Stone
5. St Catharine’s Castle
6. St Breock Downs Monolith
7. Penhallam Manor
1. Dupath Well - Chapel-like well-house built about 1500 by the canons of nearby St. Germans Priory. Inside the water flows from a spring into a sunken basin. It was believed to cure whooping cough and may have also been used for baptisms. There are around 40 Cornish holy wells with a building over them.
2. The Hurlers Stone Circles - Three late Neolithic or early Bronze Age stone circles with regularly shaped stones: they are arranged in a line, which is very rare in England. They also align with other prehistoric monuments in the Bodmin Moor ritual landscape. According to medieval legend, these stones are local men who were turned to stone for playing the Cornish game of hurling on a Sunday.
3. Trethevy Quoit - An impressive Neolithic ‘portal dolman’ standing 2.7 metres high. It’s the finest example of this distinctively Cornish type of monument. Five standing stones support a huge and now tilted capstone, weighing around 20 tonnes. The stone chamber was originally covered by an earth mound.
4.King Doniert’s Stone - Two richly carved pieces of 9th-century crosses, and the only surviving examples of their kind in Cornwall. One has an inscription commemorating Doniert, also known as Dungarth, the very last recorded ruler of the British kingdom of Cornwall. He was drowned in about AD 875, allegedly as a punishment for plotting with the Vikings.
5. St Catharine’s Castle, Fowey - Spectacularly perched on a rocky headland and only accessible on foot. St Catharine’s Castle is one of two small artillery forts built by Henry VIII to guard the entrance to Fowey Harbour. It has two rows of gunports covering both the approach and the harbour itself. The site was given new artillery during the Crimean War, and housed an anti-aircraft gun in 1940.
6.St. Breock Downs Monolith - Cornwall’s largest prehistoric standing stone, weighing nearly 17 tonnes and now leaning, standing 3 metres high. It’s near the summit of the St. Breock Downs, with beautiful views across the countryside to the sea. Famous in local folklore as a medieval and later meeting place.
7. Penhallam Manor - built in the 13th century by Andrew de Cardinham, only the stub walls mark the complete ground-plan of this historic moated manor house.. Most commonly found in central and eastern England, moated manor houses are rarely seen in the south-west , making Penhallam an unusual find. Its remains were excavated and consolidated in 1968 - 73. The site is now a peaceful nature reserve in a wooded area.
Conservation at the English Heritage archives, here I am, cleaning stone sculptures from one of the many sites under English Heritage’s governance. As a conservation volunteer. The second photo shows the checking of one of the many canon and military ordnance held at Pendennis Castle.
As a volunteer for English Heritage, I have found the experience very rewarding, learning new skills, meeting new people and being able to use my archaeology knowledge to gain insight into fascinating areas I would not normally be able to access.
References
English Heritage Hand Book 2025-27 Cornwall Heritage Trust website https://www. cornwallheritagetrust.org
All photographs by Alan Burchell
ALAN BURCHELL BA (HONS), MA.
FEATURE
THE SPLENDOUR OF A FLOOR:
ST GEORGE’S
HALL, LIVERPOOL.
St George’s Hall, Liverpool, constructed between 1841 and 1854, was intended as a multipurpose building for public gatherings, concerts, and legal proceedings. Its grand design was the work of Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, a young architect who at the age of just 25, won a competition to design the hall. Sadly, Elmes did not live to see its completion, as he died of tuberculosis in 1847 in Jamaica, aged only 33.
EDMUND WHITE
First look in close-up
Iwas born and brought up in Birkdale, further up the coast. The dark bulk of the hall has featured long in my memory as it is almost opposite Lime Street Station in Liverpool, my railway gateway to London, student adventures and life in general. Although it is considered one of the finest examples of neoclassical architecture in Europe, I’d never given the brooding, soot-blackened edifice a second thought.
Roll the clock forward thirty plus years to 2013 when I was visiting my mother, who still lived in Birkdale. I was heading back to the local station for a train to Liverpool to take me home to Surrey, when my mother simply commented that “if the hall is open, you should pop in, it’s worth a look”. I took an earlier train – just in case.
The hall was open – and not busy – so I went in and was stunned by a floor unlike any I had seen before.
Completed in 1854, the huge floor was designed by the renowned Minton Tile Company, famed for their vibrant, durable, and exquisitely patterned encaustic tiles. The floor area comprises approximately 30,000 individual tiles, each crafted with meticulous detail. The pattern is a mixture of intricate geometric designs, floral motifs, and symbolic emblems, including representations of Liverpool’s maritime heritage, such as the Liver bird.
At this point I realised this was a unique opportunity. The floor is only infrequently uncovered – or ‘revealed’ in local parlance. How the floor is revealed https://www.facebook.com/ share/v/1LxH7qpDy7/
I needed to take some photographs! I’d travelled north with minimal luggage, which included minimal camera kit. I’d been experimenting with various ‘artistic’ techniques, and although I had a good DSLR with me, I had only a vintage wide-angle lens and a Lensbaby Double Glass optic. Talk about being “under-lensed” for the occasion.
I managed to capture several useful images, including some from a brief exposition on Milton tiles. The few stained-glass windows and imposing organ are lost against the spectacular floor.
I later discovered that this was only the second time the fully restored floor had been shown to the public since the second World War. I also discovered that my mother had seen it the previous year when it was first ‘revealed’ in all its glory –hence her recommendation.
I’m told that ‘reveals’, when they happen, now attract thousands of visitors, making capturing good images difficult.
Close up of the Minton encaustic tiles
St George and the dragon in stained glass.
The organ and stained glass windows with the Liver bird in the centre.
Emblems in tiles top fish marking maritime history and below Liverpool’s coat of arms.
Individual encaustic tiles and their precursors embossed in white.
Although stopped down the Lensbaby DGO is surprisingly sharp, I’ve learnt to always carry one good, ‘normal’ lens, no matter what other kit I have with me!
