By . Sam Webb and David Wilkes . PUBLISHED: . 05:30 EST, 4 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:44 EST, 4 November 2013 . They came from all over Britain to fight in the trenches of Flanders, in the skies above the battlefields and in the warships of the Royal Navy. And now, to mark the centenary of the First World War, the conflict’s Victoria Cross heroes will be honoured in the communities from where they set off to battle. Each one of the 430 men awarded the British Empire’s highest medal for military valour will have their name enshrined in a paving stone in their home town. The skies over Highclere Castle, the setting for ITV's Downton Abbey, will be filled with WW1-era aircraft to mark the centenary of the start of the conflict. Pictured, a British Sopwith Camel biplane . Highclere Castle, better known as Downton Abbey, functioned as a fictional hospital for wounded soldiers in . the First World War. In the ITV series The Earl of Grantham also housed . wounded soldiers at Downton Abbey . They will be installed in prominent spots over the four years on the 100th anniversary of the action for which each medal was issued. Each will incorporate an electronic reader which passers-by will be able to scan using their smartphones to learn more about the serviceman honoured. Yesterday, as the design for the VC monuments was unveiled, more details emerged of other events to mark the conflict’s centenary. Toll: The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War One was over 37 million . The century will be marked with flypasts at stately homes, including Castle Howard in Yorkshire (pictured) Touched by fire: The English poets Siegfried Sassoon (left) and Wilfred Owen, who fought in the First World War . The first two slabs will be laid in . August 2014 for Sidney Godley of East Grinstead, West Sussex, and . Charles Garforth of Willesden Green in London. Private . Godley, 25, won his VC for singlehandedly holding off German forces for . two hours at the Battle of Mons on August 23, 1914, allowing his . comrades to retreat. Despite . shrapnel wounds to his back and a bullet lodged in his skull, he held . his position at Nimy Bridge until he was finally captured. Caroline Quentin is to star in a production of Oh! What A Lovely War in February next year . The Imperial War Museum (pictured) in London will display the largest collection of WWI memorabilia . Sentinel of the sea: HMS Lance, the British ship that fired the Great War's very first shot at sea. The gun itself will go on display at the National Museum Of The Royal Navy in Portsmouth . HMS Lance was a Laforey-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. It was launched a few months before the outbreak of the First World War and took part in several engagements during the war, including the Battle of Texel. She was fitted with three QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk IV guns, one of which fired the first shot of the war at the Konigin Luise, a minelayer. Acting on reports from fishermen of a suspicious ship in the Thames Estuary, Lance and HMS Landrail spotted the steam ferry and gave chase through a rain squall. The Konigin Luise took heavy fire and the captain, Commander Biermann, took decisive action to scuttle the ship. 46 of the 100 crew were rescued by the British ships. She was the first German naval loss of the war. Remarkably, after treatment at a German field hospital, he survived the war and  died in 1957. Corporal . Garforth, who died in 1973 at the age of 81, earned his VC for a series . of heroic acts which began on August 23, 1914 at Harmingnies, France. They included rescuing a sergeant from beneath a dead horse while under fire. The paving stones were designed by architect Charlie MacKeith, 50, winner of a nationwide competition. Communities . and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said the stones will ‘keep . the memory of local war heroes alive for hundreds more years’. The centenary of the  start of the war will be marked with a programme of more than 2,000 plays, performances and exhibitions. VC recipient Johnson Beharry and Eric Pickles unveil a paving stone at the Army and Navy Club in Central London, which will commemorate recipients of the Victoria Cross during the First World War . A replica WWI Sopwith Triplane fighter (N500), which belongs to the Great War Display Team . Soldiers at The Battle of Somme 1916, one of the largest battles of the First World War, France . Hope in the Great War is the Royal National lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) four year touring exhibition highlighting the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people who volunteered for the RNLI throughout the First World War. Starting at the RNLI’s Henry Blogg Museum in Norfolk (from February 2014) the exhibition will convey a sense of hope with many lives saved at sea by the charity. The Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, West Yorkshire is focusing on the medical advances that came out of the First World War with their Unknown Heroes exhibition (from July 2014). Drawing on modern day parallels with contemporary theatres of war, the exhibition will examine the complex relationship between war and medicine. National Museum Cardiff will host The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals from Aug 2014 – a series of lithograph prints from the Museum’s collection, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Information in 1917 with the aim of encouraging a war-weary public and to raise support for the war effort. The exhibition will explore the varying attitudes such as the changing role of women as a result of the war. Choices Then and Now is both a multi-media exhibition and education project (from Jan 2014) produced by the Peace Museum UK in Bradford. Drawing on stories linked to artefacts and documents from the Peace Museum's UK collection, the project focuses on the choices available and made by young people then and now and reflecting on the consequences of the choices made. Ryde Social Heritage Group in the Isle of Wight, is planning The Changing Face of Ryde, a range of events including two open days with displays and trails in Ryde Cemetery (May 2014) with an opportunity to visit the graves of the fallen and find out what happened to their families and businesses and how the social life of Ryde changed with the onset of war. The Birmingham Bach Choir will premiere a new specially-commissioned choral symphony at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham in September 2014. The symphony by the choir’s conductor Paul Spicer reflects on suffering, sacrifice and bravery and is dedicated to heroes in all generations, and takes its text from 'Unfinished Remembering', a poem by Euan Tait.
More than 2,000 exhibitions and events will mark start of Great War .
The castle where Downton Abbey is filmed will host WW1-era airshow .
Another highlight is exhibit of naval gun that fired first shot of the war .
By . Sam Webb and David Wilkes . PUBLISHED: . 05:30 EST, 4 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:44 EST, 4 November 2013 . They came from all over Britain to fight in the trenches of Flanders, in the skies above the battlefields and in the warships of the Royal Navy. And now, to mark the centenary of the First World War, the conflict’s Victoria Cross heroes will be honoured in the communities from where they set off to battle. Each one of the 430 men awarded the British Empire’s highest medal for military valour will have their name enshrined in a paving stone in their home town. The skies over Highclere Castle, the setting for ITV's Downton Abbey, will be filled with WW1-era aircraft to mark the centenary of the start of the conflict. Pictured, a British Sopwith Camel biplane . Highclere Castle, better known as Downton Abbey, functioned as a fictional hospital for wounded soldiers in . the First World War. In the ITV series The Earl of Grantham also housed . wounded soldiers at Downton Abbey . They will be installed in prominent spots over the four years on the 100th anniversary of the action for which each medal was issued. Each will incorporate an electronic reader which passers-by will be able to scan using their smartphones to learn more about the serviceman honoured. Yesterday, as the design for the VC monuments was unveiled, more details emerged of other events to mark the conflict’s centenary. Toll: The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War One was over 37 million . The century will be marked with flypasts at stately homes, including Castle Howard in Yorkshire (pictured) Touched by fire: The English poets Siegfried Sassoon (left) and Wilfred Owen, who fought in the First World War . The first two slabs will be laid in . August 2014 for Sidney Godley of East Grinstead, West Sussex, and . Charles Garforth of Willesden Green in London. Private . Godley, 25, won his VC for singlehandedly holding off German forces for . two hours at the Battle of Mons on August 23, 1914, allowing his . comrades to retreat. Despite . shrapnel wounds to his back and a bullet lodged in his skull, he held . his position at Nimy Bridge until he was finally captured. Caroline Quentin is to star in a production of Oh! What A Lovely War in February next year . The Imperial War Museum (pictured) in London will display the largest collection of WWI memorabilia . Sentinel of the sea: HMS Lance, the British ship that fired the Great War's very first shot at sea. The gun itself will go on display at the National Museum Of The Royal Navy in Portsmouth . HMS Lance was a Laforey-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. It was launched a few months before the outbreak of the First World War and took part in several engagements during the war, including the Battle of Texel. She was fitted with three QF 4-inch (101.6 mm) Mk IV guns, one of which fired the first shot of the war at the Konigin Luise, a minelayer. Acting on reports from fishermen of a suspicious ship in the Thames Estuary, Lance and HMS Landrail spotted the steam ferry and gave chase through a rain squall. The Konigin Luise took heavy fire and the captain, Commander Biermann, took decisive action to scuttle the ship. 46 of the 100 crew were rescued by the British ships. She was the first German naval loss of the war. Remarkably, after treatment at a German field hospital, he survived the war and died in 1957. Corporal . Garforth, who died in 1973 at the age of 81, earned his VC for a series . of heroic acts which began on August 23, 1914 at Harmingnies, France. They included rescuing a sergeant from beneath a dead horse while under fire. The paving stones were designed by architect Charlie MacKeith, 50, winner of a nationwide competition. Communities . and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said the stones will ‘keep . the memory of local war heroes alive for hundreds more years’. The centenary of the start of the war will be marked with a programme of more than 2,000 plays, performances and exhibitions. VC recipient Johnson Beharry and Eric Pickles unveil a paving stone at the Army and Navy Club in Central London, which will commemorate recipients of the Victoria Cross during the First World War . A replica WWI Sopwith Triplane fighter (N500), which belongs to the Great War Display Team . Soldiers at The Battle of Somme 1916, one of the largest battles of the First World War, France . Hope in the Great War is the Royal National lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) four year touring exhibition highlighting the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people who volunteered for the RNLI throughout the First World War. Starting at the RNLI’s Henry Blogg Museum in Norfolk (from February 2014) the exhibition will convey a sense of hope with many lives saved at sea by the charity. The Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, West Yorkshire is focusing on the medical advances that came out of the First World War with their Unknown Heroes exhibition (from July 2014). Drawing on modern day parallels with contemporary theatres of war, the exhibition will examine the complex relationship between war and medicine. National Museum Cardiff will host The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals from Aug 2014 – a series of lithograph prints from the Museum’s collection, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Information in 1917 with the aim of encouraging a war-weary public and to raise support for the war effort. The exhibition will explore the varying attitudes such as the changing role of women as a result of the war. Choices Then and Now is both a multi-media exhibition and education project (from Jan 2014) produced by the Peace Museum UK in Bradford. Drawing on stories linked to artefacts and documents from the Peace Museum's UK collection, the project focuses on the choices available and made by young people then and now and reflecting on the consequences of the choices made. Ryde Social Heritage Group in the Isle of Wight, is planning The Changing Face of Ryde, a range of events including two open days with displays and trails in Ryde Cemetery (May 2014) with an opportunity to visit the graves of the fallen and find out what happened to their families and businesses and how the social life of Ryde changed with the onset of war. The Birmingham Bach Choir will premiere a new specially-commissioned choral symphony at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham in September 2014. The symphony by the choir’s conductor Paul Spicer reflects on suffering, sacrifice and bravery and is dedicated to heroes in all generations, and takes its text from 'Unfinished Remembering', a poem by Euan Tait.
centenary of the start of the conflict. Pictured, Downton Abbey . They will be installed in the first shot of the war at the Konigin Luise, a of more than 2,000 plays, performances and Great War is the Royal National lifeboat medicine. National Museum Cardiff will host The