Crucifix returned from England to France after 107 years

A cross has been returned to France after more than 107 years in an English church. A group of people travelled more than 300 miles from England to France to return the crucifix retrieved from the rubble of a church in WW1. 

The cross came from the church of Doingt-Flamicourt, which was destroyed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

It is believed that the crucifix was salvaged by a British Army Chaplin and taken back to England and placed in All Saints’ Church in Tinwell, Rutland. 

But a 16-year-old boy in the congregation had the idea of returning the crucifix to France. 

Explaining where the idea to return the crucifix came from, Chas McDevitt said: “My son and my wife were discussing the fact we had an artefact from a French church, destroyed in the war.

“He looked online and saw it had been rebuilt and said, ‘Why don’t we take it back?’ Suddenly we have a day like today and it feels like the right thing to do.

“It’s so much more important for this community to have their cross back, it’s a continuity of their history.”

The crucifix was returned on Saturday, which marked the 107th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.