About
Launched by Merton Heritage Service in November 2014, Carved in Stone project tells the story of Merton's during the First World War. It focusses on the of stories of combatants who are buried in local cemeteries or commemorated on Merton's many war memorials.
Supported by a £80,900 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project has been designed to:
- Raise public awareness of Merton's wartime history
- Record the life stories of Merton combatants and war workers for posterity.
- Capture the family war stories of current and former Merton residents.
- Conserve delicate wartime records and memorabilia.
- Increase public access to historic material held by organisations and individuals throughout Merton.
This project has been possible thanks to the hard work and dedication of a team of volunteers recruited from across the borough. Aged from 15 to 70+, they have been trained in cataloguing, digitisation, oral history, local studies and display work. During the course of the project they have researched the life stories of over 400 First World War combatants, digitised 960 weekly editions of wartime newspapers, designed local history exhibitions and helped to construct trails highlighting sites with wartime associations.
At special project events, volunteers also filmed interviews with the descendants of First World War combatants. We are extremely grateful to those who kindly agreed to share their family war stories in this way. Much of the information has never been published before. Sometimes funny, often horrifying, all of the stories are deeply moving and stand as a testament to those who gave their lives in the service of their country. The material will now be made available through the Carved in Stone website.
As a result of Carved in Stone, over 40 historic documents have now been conserved for posterity by our contractor Codex Conservation. A wealth of historical documents, photographs and information has also been made available online, with the help of our web design contractor, Townsweb Archiving Ltd.
Merton museums, archives, churches, schools. community groups and private individuals have also supported the project by contributing advice, historical information, records and images for inclusion on this website.
Our partners include:
Merton Heritage Service would like to thank all those who have worked on and supported the Carved in Stone project, including our colleagues from other council departments.
We hope that you enjoy using this website and that you find the information helpful. Over the coming years we hope to add to the range of information and online resources available. If you have any records, photos or family war stories that you would like to share, we would be delighted to hear from you.
To submit details, enquiries or to advise us of factual errors, simply click on our Contact page.