The GPS co-ordinates will take you to the new World War I ‘Memorial for the Missing’ in Brookwood Military Cemetery. Please check the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website for the opening times of the Cemetery before visiting and please be respectful of any Commemorative events that may be taking place while you are there.
This is an EarthCache and so there is no physical container to find. In order to log a ‘Found it’ and earn your yellow smiley face, please visit the Memorial, read through all the information and answer the questions below. Your answers should be sent to the CO through the messaging service or email. You don't need to wait for our response before logging your find, but please do not post any of the answers in your log! If there are any problems with your answers, we will contact you.
The Memorial:
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) through its ‘In From The Cold’ Project (IFCP) is committed to commemorating all service personnel who died in the UK and Ireland during World War I who have no known war grave and have not been commemorated elsewhere. After years of extensive research by the IFCP, the final resting places of around 250 service personnel commemorated on the previous WWI Memorial in the Cemetery were identified and they have now been honoured by the CWGC at their original burial locations. Rather than remove these names from the Memorial and add the new names for commemoration that have come to light, it was decided that a new Memorial should be created.
Sustainability was fundamental to the design, construction and ongoing care of the new Memorial and this is the very first CWGC memorial created under this new approach. In addition, the previous Memorial has been recycled in several ways – useable stone was donated to local craft colleges as training material and other bits were crushed into aggregate for use in this project and other CWGC projects around the world.
The 25 Memorial stelae (a ‘stele’ is an upright memorial slab that is taller than it is wide) are set out in the pattern of the brightest visible stars (and a couple of planets) as they appeared on the 11th November 1918 when the Armistice came into effect on the Western Front. Each stele is named after a star/planet and has its name carved towards the bottom on both the side edges. Initially, around 400 service personnel have been commemorated but around 1,200 more names can be added as and when more names are identified.
The stele have been set in a beautiful landscape of trees, wildflowers and pollinator friendly planting to create a living habitat to support biodiversity as well as peaceful surroundings for reflection and remembrance of the cost of war. When visiting the Memorial, please keep to the grass paths through the woodland area and do not tred on the areas where the plants and wildflowers are trying to establish themselves.
The new Memorial was officially unveiled by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal in a ceremony held on Tuesday 9th June 2026.
The EarthCache:
The stone used for the new Memorial comes from the Basebed seam of Portland Limestone from the Isle of Portland in Dorset, the same source that has been used for many CWGC memorials. Although some may groan at yet another EarthCache based on Portland stone, the way in which the Memorial stele have been presented is very different to usual, allowing an amazing opportunity to see right into the heart of the stone.
Deposited around 145-150 million years ago in warm shallow seas during the Upper Jurassic period, Basebed Portland Stone is an oolitic limestone - a biological sedimentary rock formed from tiny spherical egg-shaped grains (ooids or ooliths) cemented together by lime mud when calcium carbonate was deposited on the surface. Bivalves (clams) and oysters can sometimes be spotted in the rock.
Basebed limestone is the highest quality and finest grained layer of Portland stone. It is hard, highly durable and resistant to environmental erosion (although not quite as durable as other higher layers of Portland limestone such as Whitbed or Roach, which the CWGC have also used where appropriate over the years). It is uniform and non-crystalline with minimal shell content and can be cut in any direction. Stonemasons and carvers like it for its ease of cutting, shaping and producing fine mouldings. It is renowned for its creamy-white colour which mellows gracefully over time.
Because of the commitment for the new Memorial to be 'low-impact', the stone was chosen from waste stone that was too rough for use in modern building work. Each stele just needed to have one flat front surface which meant that even the outer edges of the seam could be used as they could be left in their natural state. Normally this would not be done as it is not considered aesthetically pleasing and the stone would be wasted because of the high cost of the energy and resources needed to create a flat surface. The stelae are held safely in place by an innovative concrete-free foundation system and off-cuts have been used to create the 5 seats.
The Questions/Tasks:
The decision to leave surfaces of some of the stelae in their natural state allows an amazing opportunity to see what Portland limestone looks like on the inside, before it is processed to produce a flat surface. The difference between the two surfaces is quite remarkable.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE ONLY WALK ON THE GRASSY PATHS - DO NOT TRED ON ANY OF THE WOODCHIP/ PLANTING AREAS AS THE PLANTS AND WILDFLOWERS ARE TRYING TO ESTABLISH THEMSELVES
1. Find Gianfar (Stele No. 25). Look at the narrow right-hand side of the stone and see if you can spot the shells. Describe the shapes you can see and estimate the size of the largest one you can find.
2. Walk around on the grass path to the right of Gianfar to Dubhe (Stele No. 24). Standing on the right-hand side of Dubhe gives a very good view of the back of Gianfar. It is rare to be able to look at Portland Limestone in quite such a raw and natural state. Describe the various colours, features and textures you can see on the back of the stone.
3. What type of rock is Portland limestone?
4. Having read the information above, why do you think Portland limestone has been used for this Monument?
5. Take a photo of you or something with your geocaching name next to one of the stones – extra kudos if you can find one with a name or regiment that means something special to you.
The EarthCache can be logged after your visit, but please don't forget to send your answers to the CO.
Congratulations to BouncingTiger for being FTF!
***** PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT *****
CACHES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE PLACED ON ACTUAL MEMORIALS OR WITHIN THE BOUNDARY OF SUCH
AT ALL TIMES PLEASE TREAT LOCATIONS OF MEMORIALS WITH RESPECT