Local Battlefield Sites

Within a few miles of Snowden House are many interesting memorials and cemeteries dedicated to the remembrance of the Great War. From Delville Wood that has in the region of one thousand coach visits per year to the isolated grave near Falfemont that probably has less than a hundred individual visitors per year.

Please when walking on the Battlefields always remember all munitions can still be dangerous, even after ninety years!

 

Bernafay Wood British Cemetery

The cemetery register records that Bernafay Wood was taken on 3rd and 4th July 1916, by the 9th Scottish Division. On the 25th March 1918 during the retreat to the Ancre the same Division was driven from the Wood but recaptured it for a time. On the 27th August 1918 the Wood was finally captured by the 18th Division. The cemetery was begun by a Dressing Station in August 1916 and used as a front-line cemetery until the following April. Today Bernafay Wood cemetery contains the graves of 945 men. By the end of the war the cemetery contained 284 graves, but it was then increased by the concentration of 80 graves from Bernafay Wood North Cemetery and 558 from the battlefields immediately east of the wood facing Trones Wood. The great majority of the concentrated graves or 417 out of the whole number are unidentified men.

Caterpillar Valley Cemetery

Caterpillar Valley was the name given by the army to the long valley which rises eastwards, past "Caterpillar Wood", to the high ground at Guillemont. The ground was captured, after very fierce fighting, in the latter part of July 1916. It was lost in the German advance of March 1918 and recovered by the 38th (Welsh) Division on 28 August 1918, when a little cemetery was made (now Plot 1 of this cemetery) containing 25 graves of the 38th Division and the 6th Dragoon Guards.
After the Armistice, this cemetery was hugely increased when the graves of more than 5,500 officers and men were brought in from other small cemeteries, and the battlefields of the Somme. The great majority of these soldiers died in the autumn of 1916 and almost all the rest in August or September 1918. CATERPILLAR VALLEY CEMETERY now contains 5,569 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War.
3,796 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 32 casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to three buried in McCormick's Post Cemetery whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The New Zealand Memorial to the Missing

On the east side of the cemetery is the CATERPILLAR VALLEY (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL, commemorating more than 1,200 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Battles of the Somme in 1916, and whose graves are not known.
This is one of seven memorials in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. The memorials are all in cemeteries chosen as appropriate to the fighting in which the men died.

The New Zealand Forces Memorial Longueval

Sited near Longueval is the New Zealand Memorial, it commemorates the actions of New Zealand Division during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916, an occasion that saw the first use of tanks in warfare. Along with the British 14th and 41st Divisions the New Zealanders entered the reclaimed village of Flers in triumph, preceded by a conquering tank. The memorial is located a few hundred metres from where the Otago and Auckland battalions attacked, then pass over the high ground. The memorial was unveiled in October 1922.

Crucifix Corner

Crucifix Corner was the name given to several road or track junctions on the Western Front where there was a wayside crucifix, of the type that were and still are a common sight across France. However, at the Crucifix Corner south of High Wood, the original crucifix can still be seen today - complete with holes and scars from damage sustained during the war nearly 90 years ago. This Crucifix Corner, located where several tracks and roads intersect is just to the north of Bazentin-le-Grand. It was on the natural route up to the High Wood area for troops - which led through what became known as Death Valley, as, although safe from view, the Germans knew that it would be a natural transport route and shelled it mercilessly.

 

Delville Wood South African Memorial

Situated to the east of Longueval is Delville Wood and the South African Memorial, it is best to park at the visitor centre which has a small museum shop and toilets. Delville Wood was sometimes known as 'Devils Wood' and was the scene of some very violent fighting. The majority of the wood was initially taken by the South African Brigade of the 9th Scottish Division, during the 15th to 20th July 1916 the South Africans suffered 2,300 casualties. After the war the South African's purchased the site in 1920, with the original memorial unveiled in 1926, and the memorial museum was opened in 1986, both commemorate the 10,000 South Africans who have died during war.
It is possible to walk through the wood along the same rides and tracks that existed before and during the Great War, each are named as per the trench maps such as; Rotten Row and Princes Street. Some trench lines can still be seen running through the woodland and there is a Plaque dedicated to Cpl J Davies VC and Pte A Hill VC both of the 10th Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers. Only one original tree now survives a hornbeam located to the rear of the South African memorial and close to an existing trench, at the west end of that trench is a memorial stone on the location of the South African Brigade HQ.

Delville Wood Cemetery

Opposite Delville Wood is Deville Wood Cemetery, it was constructed after the armistice and became a concentration of many smaller cemeteries and the remains of men brought in from the battlefield clearances. The cemetery now contains the remains of 5,236 men of which 3,590 are unknown soldiers. There is the grave of one VC in the cemetery, Sergeant A Gill 1st KRRC, who was posthumously awarded his VC for his Gallantry in action at Delville Wood on the 27th July 1916.

The Pipers Memorial

This is the Bag-pipers Memorial, unveiled in July 2002 to commemorate the pipers who fought in the Great War. It is located in the centre of Longueval very close to Snowden House and on the ground that became the 9th Scottish Divisions front line position for several days during the intense fighting after the 14th July attack. Cap badges of regiments which lost pipers are inset into the brick wall behind the statue, they include all the Scottish, Irish regiments and English and commonwealth battalions raised with Scottish or Irish connections.

 

 

Falfemont Farm CWGC Isolated Grave

This lonely and rarely visited spot lies between the site of the original Falfemont Farm and its post war replacement which is now situated closer to Combles. Buried here are the bodies of Capt Richard Heumann, CSM B Mills and Sgt A W Torrance, all of the 1/2nd London Battalion. When the three were killed by enemy action on 10th September 1916 their bodies were buried on the spot. The location of the grave can be difficult to find during the summer when the crops are high, there is also no direct path to the site it is isolated so beware not to damage crops if visiting.

Guillemont Road Cemetery

Guillemont Road Cemetery is located two miles north of Hardecourt on the north side of the Guillemont to Montauban Road. The cemetery was begun by fighting units, mainly the Guards Division and Field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont and was closed in March 1917. It then contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the war by the concentration of 2,139 graves most from the July to September fighting of 1916. The cemetery now contains 2,259 of which the majority 1,523 are unknown. The cemetery is the third largest in the British Somme sector. The only cemetery of any size from which British graves were brought to Guillemont Road cemetery was from Hardecourt Village French Military Cemetery, that had five men from the Royal Artillery buried in September 1916 and 14 men buried after the 9th Royal Fusiliers captured Hardecourt on the 28th August 1918. The original burials are just to the left inside the gate way, they include some well known names from the period including Lt Raymond Asquith- the Prime ministers son and Lt Hon Edward Wyndham Tennant. By far the Kings Liverpool Regiment appear to have the most headstones, this shows the sacrifice the City of Liverpool suffered during the fighting for Guillemont in all 12 Battalions of the Kings Regiment took part in the fighting

12th Gloucester’s Memorial

This memorial to the 12th Battalion, the Gloucester Regiment, is located just outside Longueval, south-east of High Wood. The battalion was involved in the operations to attack the Orchard area to the north of Longueval they attacked from just north of this spot on the 29th of July. The cross that stands here today is not the original; that was erected in the 1920s, that had vanished by the end of the Second World War. In 1986 this replacement (made in Bristol) was put in place. Records at the National Archives suggest that the Gloucester’s erected a wooden memorial very near this spot during the War.

16th Irish Division's Memorial

The memorial was originally located on the Guillemont to Ginchy Road north east of Guillemont and commemorated the Divisions major involvement in the fighting around the Guillemont Ginchy area, which included the award of two Victoria Cross's. It is fact that the capture of Guillemont, on the 3rd September 1916, was greatly aided by the attachment of a Brigade from the Division to the 20th Light Division. The simple stone recalls the Guillemont and Ginchy Battles but also all Irish men who fell during the Great War. The Memorial is located next to the church in Guillemont.

High Wood

The real name of High Wood, as used before the War and as marked on French maps today, is Bois de Fourcaux, relating pitchforks. However, during the First World War it was marked on some maps as Bois de Foureaux. High Wood is not large, but was of tremendous significance during the Battle of the Somme. The wood was first attacked on 14th July, 1916, but the British were unable to take it. An account of the various actions leading to the final assault with tanks on the 15th of September is given below.
High Wood was the last of the major woods in the Somme offensive of 1916 to be captured by the British. The fighting in Mametz Wood was grim, and in Delville Wood it was hellish, but they eventually fell, as did Trones Wood. Despite a whole series of attacks spanning two months, High Wood held out until September the 15th, 1916. It was never fully cleared after the war, and it is estimated that the remains of around 8000 soldiers, British and German, still lie today in High Wood.

The London Cemetery and Extension

A few days after High Wood was taken, 47 officers and men from the London battalions that had taken it were buried in a large shell hole opposite the south-west face of the wood, just beyond the road. This became the London Cemetery, and is there today. Although there is now a larger Extension to the rear, the front part nearest the road comprises the 47 burials mentioned above, plus other men, mainly casualties from the 47th Division on the 15th of September. By the Armistice, there were 101 burials. Because of the nature of the mass burial and presumably other grave locations being lost, the headstones in rows B, C and D do not actually mark known graves. Those in Row A, which is located between Rows B and C, do mark graves. There is a special memorial stone commemorating the soldiers whose grave locations are lost, shown below.
Special memorial to 78 men whose exact grave locations at London Cemetery are not known
The beautifully maintained hedge behind this memorial is cut through with arches leading to the much larger Extension to the rear of the original cemetery. Similar arches can be seen in the brick built entrance way through to the Extension.
Arched entrance to the London Cemetery Extension
The Extension to the London Cemetery was added much later. The Serre Road No. 2 Cemetery was used to bury bodies recovered after the War, but by 1934 this was completed. Hence, the Extension here at London Cemetery was only started then, and used until 1939, and again after the end of the Second World War - for First World War burials, as bodies were still being recovered, and for 165 burials from the Second World War.
The First World War burials were of bodies recovered from across the Somme battlefields, and the sobering fact is that only 759 - less than 20% - of the 3,872 First World War burials are identified.

Cameron Highlanders & Black Watch Memorial

The memorial commemorates the sacrifices of the 1st Cameronians and 1st Black Watch, these two units erected wooden crosses here in December 1916. These were replaced in 1924 by the first of the permanent memorials at the edge of High Wood. This memorial can be seen today half-way along the south-eastern track to the edge of the wood. Behind the memorial is large water filled double mine crater.

47th London Division Memorial

It is perhaps not surprising, given that the 47th Division finally took High Wood, that the most imposing memorial at the edge of High Wood is to that Division. The original memorial was a wooden cross, which was erected in December 1916, but taken back to London after the War. A more permanent memorial was dedicated in the 1920s. The original stone memorial to the 47th (London) Division at High Wood. The memorial at High Wood had to be later rebuilt due to problems with the foundations and rededicated in 1996 and only the central cross resembles the original memorial.

The Glasgow Highlanders Memorial

At the edge of High Wood today is a memorial to men of the 1/9 Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Highlanders), which is relatively recent. Constructed in 1972, it comprises a cairn with 192 stones taken from another High Wood (near Culloden), commemorating the 192 soldiers of the Glasgow Highlanders who were killed here. The height of the cairn, five feet and seven inches, also represents the minimum height accepted for recruits into the battalion.

Longueval Road Cemetery

This cemetery is on the left hand side of the D197, 500m from Snowden House. This is a small cemetery, which was started in September 1915. It was located near a dressing station which was known as 'Longueval Alley', or 'Longueval Water Point'. A trench, or possibly the road itself here, was known as Pall Mall in September 1916. The cemetery was used until January 1917 and briefly again in August and September 1918.Many of the graves are from October and November 1916. The graves are in regular rows, although within rows the spacing between graves is quite varied. The Cross of Sacrifice is at the triangular apex of the cemetery, and there are special memorials to two men known and one believed to be buried here. From the Cross of Sacrifice, one can look straight ahead over the cemetery to see Bernafay Wood. Trones wood can be seen to the left, with Delville wood behind you. The road and track layout here is just the same today as it was during the Great War. There were 171 men buried here by the Armistice, and another 50 or so were brought into the cemetery in 1923-1924.

Liverpool and Manchester Pals Memorial Montauban

Situated in Montauban Village on the main road stands the memorial to the Liverpool and Manchester pals. It is a stone obelisk, one face has inscribed the Kings Liverpool cap badge and listed the Pals Battalions, and another face of the memorial has the Manchester's cap badge and lists their Pals Battalions all the Battalions belonged to the 30th Division. The Division successfully captured Montauban on the 1st July 1916, suffering 3,011 casualties; the Division then remained in the area fighting at Trones Wood and Guillemont up until the end of July where many more men from Lancashire became casualties.

20th (Light) Division's Memorial

The memorial is situated on the southern side of the crossroads to Ginchy and Maurepas on the road from Guillemont to Combles. The Division played a major part in the final capture of Guillemont on the 3rd September 1916 and the memorial is located at the Divisions furthest position captured during its attack. There are excellent views from the memorial to the south, you can see the area of the German main second position, Wedge Wood, Angle Wood and back towards Hardecourt. This memorial is the second one to dominate this position the first suffered from weather damage after many years in its exposed position and so was replaced with the new smaller memorial in 1995.

18th (Eastern) Division's Memorial Trones Wood

The memorial is located in a small clearing on the southern edge of Trones Wood on the north side of the D.64 about two miles north of Hardecourt. The memorial takes the form of a large obelisk, on a large bronze panel it reads 'TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN IMPERISHABLE MEMORY OF THE OFFICERS, N.C.Os. & MEN OF THE 18TH DIVISION WHO FELL FIGHTING FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF LIBERTY, IN THE SOMME BATTLES OF 1916 AND 1918. THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD'. The Division had been in the area since early 1915, had taken part in the 1st July attacks and then been in action until it’s successfully capture of Trones Wood on the 14th July. It then fought again on the Somme in September and again helped capture Trones Wood on the 25th August 1918. Certain times of the year it is possible to look behind the memorial into the wood that is still scared with many shell craters.

 

Thistle Dump Cemetery

This small cemetery is closer to High Wood, lying away from the D20 road on the opposite side from Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, and a little further towards Bazentin-le-Petit village. The cemetery is reached by a sign-posted track. A dressing station was based here, an area safe from view from High Wood due to the contours of the land. The iron harvest in this area is particularly plentiful, as the areas around High Wood were the subject of long and intense bombardments as the battles of 1916 raged. The first burials at this cemetery were in August 1916, before High Wood was taken, and this position must have been uncomfortable with High Wood out of sight but just over the horizon. The cemetery was used until February 1917, seven Germans are also buried here. After the Armistice, more than 50 graves were concentrated here, the total number today being just short of two hundred, with 59 unidentified.

Maltz Horn Farm Calvary

From Hardecourt take the left fork in the road at the Cochin Memorial towards Trones Wood, half way along Hardecourt knoll is the large Maltz Horn Calvary. It is on the site of the former Malzkorn Duclercq Farm and Trench or on the British maps Maltz Horn. The inscription at its base translates: Here stood Maltzkorn Duclerq Farm, destroyed in the desperate battles which took place on this spot from 1 July to 9 August 1916. When standing at the memorial it is easy to see why it held such tactical importance as it dominates the area for 360 degrees there are excellent views over the local battlefields and towards the River Somme. It was finally captured after weeks of fighting by a joint assault in the early hours of the 30th July by 2nd Bedford's and the French 153e R.I.