Volunteers working on the Granathof

Brick floor of the Stable Block - Granathof

A concerted effort began on uncovering what we believed was a surviving corner of the Granathof farm.  Results have been spectacular with walls and a brick floor of the stable block uncovered. Using French maps sourced from archival research we have discovered one of the first trenches, dug through the stable block to the forward French trench. Many artefacts including large quantities of French and German small arms ammunition have been found at this spot.

Our efforts underground have been equally rewarding. Over the first week we have cleared an estimated 40 metric tonnes of chalk spoil from W Shaft chamber. The duckboard floor laid on W Adit has been extended further. Working in Petzl harnesses under strict safety requirements we have cleared the spoil from around the 50ft vertical W Shaft. As this will be our main access point into the underground system we have endeavoured to make this area as safe as possible. Using the expertise of Danny Gunner from Gunner Engineering Kent a bespoke steel safety cage has been built which which sits over the shaft.  Bolted and welded together, there is now a secure area with steel mesh floor in which to work from. Work will continue this week installing electric winches and a safety cage in which to stand under when at the shaft foot. We will also begin the delicate process of assessing the integrity of the vertical shaft walls and, if safe to do so, clearing up to 12 feet of spoil from the shaft foot.

Spoil clearance in W Shaft Chamber. Over 40 metric tonnes have been removed this week.

Clearing spoil from area around W Shaft. Steel beams and timbers cover the 50 ft shaft.

We have welcomed hundreds of visitors. Many have been very generous in leaving donations. We would like to thank them for their help and for those who have donated via PayPal. If you are interested in helping us financially then please visit the Donate page. Our public thanks to the dedicated volunteers who have given up their time to help us with our work. Further thanks to Phil Giles from Pan 3Sixty who has been with us from the start, taking panoramic images above and below ground. These will be made freely available via our website.

We will be joined by Meridian TV on 16 May who are filming for an extended news piece to be broadcast later that day.

A full report of the archaeological work will be made available via the website upon completion of the dig. If you are planning on visiting the Somme battlefields before 16 May then please come and visit us.

Selected other images

Looking vertically down W Shaft. Approximately 12 feet of spoil needs clearing from the foot before access can be gained into the lateral tunnel.

Clay pipe and corked glass bottle containing a small drop of rum. Both items, in a remarkable state of preservation were found in W Shaft chamber.

Peter Barton standing above W Shaft

Jonathan Porter shows a group around site

At the suspected corner of the Granathof

Visitors queue to visit W Adit

Richard Porter explaining about the digging of W Adit

We are still seeking donations to help us with our work. Please see our fundraising video and visit the Donate page: http://www.laboisselleproject.com/donate/

Gary Andrews & Danny Gunner at W Shaft discussing plans for the steel cage

Our primary task, however, was to inspect and survey parts of W Shaft chamber in order to determine dimensions for the planned steel safety cage which will be specially fabricated to sit over the W Shaft. We were joined by one of our key colleagues Danny Gunner of Gunner Engineering Ltd., whose is generously sponsoring the fabrication, transport and erection of the structure, as well as safety equipment, winches and lighting, and briefing and training for working in confined spaces.

Over the past 95 years small falls from the roof have altered the chamber’s shape so it now resembles that of a bell. The logistics of designing and installing a rectangular steel frame into this irregular shape was discussed in detail. The dimensions of W Shaft were re-confirmed (1.8m square) in order to ascertain the necessary size for the steel collar which will form the base of the cage. The shaft itself was ascertained to have 4 metres of spoil at the bottom. It was also calculated that up to 40 metric tonnes of spoil will need to be removed from the chamber area to allow for archaeology, shoring and bracing to take place.

To facilitate the removal of spoil from the chamber, and to protect the original 1916 floor, a wooden duckboard walkway was installed along 30 metres of W Adit.

Team members constructing the duckboard floor in W Adit

W Adit with new duckboard flooring - 6 March 2012

Archaeology was continued at the bottom of the steeper 1915 ‘X Incline’.  Finds included a well-preserved sandbag wall, a long and intertwined length of steel-reinforced rubber air hose with brass fittings, and an axle with rubberised wheels at each end.  When first uncovered we hoped it would be a small miners truck. However, as it was excavated it soon became evident that it was too long for use in mine galleries, its length being considerably wider than the tunnels.  The base of an oil lamp, a mess tin, and an empty tin of 25 Meadowland cigarettes were also uncovered. Work continues on cleaning, cataloguing and preserving these finds.

Sandbag wall, air pipe and rubber wheeled axle uncovered at the bottom of X Incline - 6 March 2012

Further archival study of several surface features was planned. This includes the history of the Ilôt/Granathof prior to the war, the struggle for the farm, detail of a German raid across the craters against 1/7^th Black Watch on 4 August 1915 which resulted in the first British prisoner being taken, and two raids on the German lines by the Northumberland Fusiliers in June 1916. We now also have material to illustrate the symbolic 1937 ceremony at the Glory Hole between representatives of the Black Watch and 19^thBreton Regiment. When we are next on site there should be much more interpretative material for visitors to enjoy.  Archival research in French, British and German records continues.

Selected images

Empty tin of Meadowland cigarettes found at the foot of X Incline. Hidden for over ninety years, they are in a superb condition.

The brass fitting at the end of the intertwined length of steel-reinforced rubber armoured hose found at the foot of X Incline.

The well preserved base of an oil lamp found in X Incline

Anthony Byledbal & Romain Leroy excavate the bottom of X Incline

Kate McIntyre filming for Live with Gabby TV show at the entrance to W Adit

We also showed Frank Barrett, the Mail on Sunday’s travel editor around site and took him underground in W Adit. His article, entitled In search of Birdsong: Unearthing the scars of war on a drive through Northern France was published in today’s paper. It covers our work at La Boisselle, focussing on last June’s visit to site by Birdsong actors, Eddie Redmayne and Joseph Mawle. Frank’s article can be viewed online by clicking the image below.

Our thanks to Ruth Bray and all at Premier PR for organising this.

The Somme branch has kindly agreed to donate all proceeds from the raffle funds to the La Boisselle Study Group. One of the raffle prizes is a signed copy of Arras – The Spring 1917 Offensive in Panoramas including Vimy Ridge and Bullecourt by Peter Barton & Jeremy Banning.

At present there are around sixty people who have signed up to attend. However, the branch would welcome more guests. If you are visiting the Glory Hole on 10 April then please consider dropping into the museum for this talk. The museum’s website is http://www.somme-trench-museum.co.uk/ and a map of Albert can be found here: http://www.ville-albert.fr/fr/files/plan%20albert-OK.jpg.

We look forward to seeing you on site.

There will also be Open Days from 30 June – 2 July inclusive to cater for the many battlefield visitors over that period.

He was also able to show the students some of the artefacts that had been found during October’s archaeological work. Many of the students were studying Birdsong as part of their ‘A’ Level English Literature course, and were fascinated at being taken a short way underground in W Adit to appreciate the work of the tunnellers, see the size of the underground workings and remains of the tramway system that had been installed. Richard was also able to tell them stories concerning individual RE tunnellers from 179 & 185 Tunnelling Companies operating at the site in 1915 & 1916.

Richard Porter greets the student group visit

Richard's briefing

With the group at the British front line

Showing the 179 Tunnelling Company mine plan

Dependent upon existing work commitments we will always endeavour to show parties around the site. Please contact us for details.

LBSG member Peter Barton was Historical Consultant for the production. Because much of the film’s action takes place on the Somme battlefields (Beaumont Hamel) he invited the producers to visit La Boisselle to gain an understanding of the environment and conditions faced by tunnellers working beneath the Picardy battlefields. On Eddie and Joseph’s arrival the nature of surface and subterranean warfare at the Glory Hole was explained.

Peter Barton and Simon Jones show Joseph and Eddie the 179 Tunnelling Company mine plan

Peter Barton explaining the mine plans - there are up to eight kilometres of tunnels on site - all dug by hand

Trenches were flagged out, and shafts and inclines marked. Guided by Peter, they then went underground through the crown hole that gave access to the 1915 X Incline. They descended to a depth of about 30 feet, reaching the site of the now celebrated poem written in pencil on the chalk roof:

If in this place you are detained
Don’t look around you all in vain
But cast your net and you shall find
That every cloud is silver lined… Still

We were delighted to show the actors the site and explain some of the difficulties and dangers endured by the tunnellers. The visit was filmed by LBSG member Mike Fox BSC; some of this footage may appear on the Birdsong DVD.

Speaking with Claudie Llewellyn, one of the owners of the Glory Hole

Eddie and Joseph at the collapse providing access to 1915 X Incline

The experience had a powerful influence on both men. In recent interviews Eddie Redmayne revealed that he wrote the poem, which he described as “hope in the most horrific of circumstances”, on the cover of his script as an inspiration for the role, and as a reminder of the tunnellers and their work in the Glory Hole at La Boisselle.

The following articles mention the actors’ visits to La Boisselle in June:

Eddie Redmayne Talks About His Character In BBC’s Birdsong

The Independent: Putting on a brave front: Behind the scenes of the BBC’s epic adaptation of ‘Birdsong’

Daily Mail: I discovered a soldier’s poem etched in the wall in a tunnel under the Somme… Eddie Redmayne recalls how he drew inspiration for Birdsong

The BBC website for Birdsong is available by clicking the image below.

We are grateful to Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Mawle and the production team at Working Title for their permission to divulge this information and reproduce the images.

Mrs Gertrude Hillman with the Great War medals of her father, Sapper George Maule.

The full article can be read by clicking on the link: http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Army-worked-underground/story-13810040-detail/story.html