108 replies to this topic

[Beselare]

Sorry to disappoint everyone but it appears that the Hill 60 new house court case has collapsed.  Work began again on Wednesday - a crane has arrived, concrete mixers are busy and the bricks have arrived.

Bob Findley
Beselare
Belgium

[Roger H]

A shame, but I suppose life goes on.

Roger

[bill24chev]

I wonder how long it will be before this "new house" features in one of the TV programs thatinvestigate paranormal activity.
Many former battle sights have been the subject of ghost hunts.
The carnage around Hill 60 must have produced an awful lot of restless souls.

[von Smallhausen]

About twentyfive years ago I was walking on Hill 60.  People started to built a house, earthworks were done and a lot of french bullets strayed around. Also a lot pieces of thick red cloth (from their trousers) were littered all over the place. Pity .......have no words for it,
Jef

[River97]

Are the builders going straight into the build or has there been any form of survey or archeological process first?

Who knows what's under the top soil. I would have thought they may have an EOD specialist on call as well.

Cheers Andy.

[iain mchenry]

Andy,

Work had already begun on the house a number of months ago. See post 175 of this thread:

http://1914-1918.inv...c=124909&st=150

If as Bob mentions in the first post here that the court case has collapsed against the Save Hill 60 group who has to foot the court costs? I'm sure Hugh will be on in due course to give us the full facts.

Regards

Iain

[Beselare]

I'm not sure about paranormal activity but a few people have told me that they felt 'uncomfortable' when walking Hill 60.  As far as the house is concerned, as it is built directly over the main tunnel to the mine crater, it is quite possible that it will start to sink.  The foundations that were dug were to the standard depth as far as I could see.   Remember that the nearby railway track had to be repaired a few years ago as it was sinking into the Caterpillar tunnel.  If you visit Bayernwald, look at the farmhouse on the corner, and you will see several layers of brick that are sagging already as once again, it has been built over the tunnels.

Bob

[Graham C]

When I was at Hill 60 last week , there looked very little evidence of looking for battlefield relics and or fallen soldiers, the mud was heaped up to the side of the site . I hope I am wrong , me personally building there would be on the lookout for everything, lets hope this builder is too
I must admit to having a prod around in the bits of mud I could reach

[chrislock]

iain mchenry, on 04 June 2011 - 07:59 AM, said:

Andy,

Work had already begun on the house a number of months ago. See post 175 of this thread:

http://1914-1918.inv...c=124909&st=150

If as Bob mentions in the first post here that the court case has collapsed against the Save Hill 60 group who has to foot the court costs? I'm sure Hugh will be on in due course to give us the full facts.

Regards

Iain

Very valid point indeed Iain. Hugh is usualy pretty quick to react to Hill 60 posts so I'm sure your question will be answered soon.

Chris

[BIFFO]

bill24chev, on 03 June 2011 - 04:59 PM, said:

I wonder how long it will be before this "new house" features in one of the TV programs thatinvestigate paranormal activity.
Many former battle sights have been the subject of ghost hunts.
The carnage around Hill 60 must have produced an awful lot of restless souls.

  I only know of one ww1 ghost doc,I have often wondered why there havent been more seeing as how haunting progs and ww1 tv docs are well subscribed,auchionvillers would be a good starting place,if you believe in ghosts many say that they left here in such a hurry they dont know they are dead,well many a poor soldier then and now have died.
BIFF

[ARMAGH]

We were at Hill 60 on Sat 4 June 2011 it was a hot day and there were 3/4 people working on the house,one was cutting building blocks and there was dust every where,we moved on to the hill 60,(I had missed the post ref building the house at the site of Hill 60),I am back in Oct so will get a photo then.



The house is to the right of the horses.

[MartinBennitt]

Pity about this but they might have done it years ago. This is an 'advert' from the Wipers Times of February 12, 1916



 IMG Hill 60.jpg   95.49K   10 downloads


cheers Martin B

[usa2uk]

So do we know why it collapsed?

And I thought that the local government was going to buy this parcel of land, as well as the one adjacent to stop the development from going ahead?  I presume that fell through as well?

I would also be interested to know what the statements, justifications, and defences were from "the other side of the wire" so to speak.  

Everything has been from the "save" side and it would just be interesting to know what the others had to say about all of this.  Do they recognise the history / significance / etc of the site?  Do they care?  

What did the original land owner think when they sold the land for development?  Simply a case of money talks?

[ARMAGH]

usa2uk, on 03 August 2011 - 03:19 PM, said:

So do we know why it collapsed?

And I thought that the local government was going to buy this parcel of land, as well as the one adjacent to stop the development from going ahead?  I presume that fell through as well?

I would also be interested to know what the statements, justifications, and defences were from "the other side of the wire" so to speak.  

Everything has been from the "save" side and it would just be interesting to know what the others had to say about all of this.  Do they recognise the history / significance / etc of the site?  Do they care?  

What did the original land owner think when they sold the land for development?  Simply a case of money talks?

Can anyone give a situation report on the house building? are they still building?

Joe

[River97]

Are there any photo's of the house. I know not pertinent to WW1, but we can then see the impact on such a site.

Cheers Andy.

[Sapper D.]

Was there a week ago and 1 man was plodding on, shifting stuff from one end of the site to the other end. No fever of activity.

[ARMAGH]

Sapper D., on 08 August 2011 - 07:50 AM, said:

Was there a week ago and 1 man was plodding on, shifting stuff from one end of the site to the other end. No fever of activity.

Thanks for the update Sapper.

Joe

[chrislock]

Was there yesterday. The structure is in place and well into it,s build phase.

[Roger H]

This was the house last week.

Roger

Attached Files

•  Hill 60 house.jpg   35.23K   20 downloads

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

Roger H, on 15 August 2011 - 07:46 PM, said:

This was the house last week.

Roger

Not "timber frame" then  

[Cnock]

HI,

was there last saturday,

building companies in Flanders were on holiday for 3 weeks, I assume they will start their activities again this week

Cnock

[towisuk]

If the building companies in Flanders were on holiday for three weeks, that means three weeks longer for our lost soldiers to RIP without the danger of being turned over and dug-in.
regards
Tom

[Cnock]

Hi Tom,

indeed a very sad thought

Cnock

[Terry_Reeves]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but where is the evidence that any human remains have been found? As far as I can see this is all supposition.

TR

[Cnock]

Hi,

I don't think any human remains have been found, but the possiblity remains for the future

Cnock