Ladies & Gents,

Pal's

I am trying to help my son with his course work and we are looking for a bit of help on the Newfoundland Memorial Park on the Somme. Can any of you help me with the following please as we are struggling for the answers?

I was under the impression that the new Musuem/visitors centre building is built in the style of a Newfoundland building, is that true or is old age getting to me again?

Are there any Essex Regiment Graves in any of the Cemeteries in the Park?

I seem to recall that there is a man from the Border Regiment who is buried in Hawthorn Ridge No 2 Cemetery who also saw service with the Borders during the Boer War? Who is he please?

Any help with these questions and any other snippets of info on the Park to help 'nick' some extra marks would be gratefully received,
Thank you,
Regards,
Scottie.

Scottie

Than answer to your first question is yes.

I can't answer the other 2

martin

Martin,

thank you very much, (See son your old Dad was right) one down, two to go!
Regards,
Scottie.

There are no Essex Regt men in the three cemeteries.

Terry,

thank you very much for your help,

(As meat loaf said "two out of three ain't bad")
regards,
Scottie.

Don't know if it might be of any use to your son's project but there is a small plot of Newfoundlanders in Ayr Cemetry in Scotland. The 'Foondies' were based near Ayr for a period and I think there must be a dozen or so graves.

Don't know if this is of any interest to you:
The Newfoundland Memorial Park was 're-organised' a few years ago. Not only the visitors center was built, but also the accessability of the park itself had to be reviewed, as over-visiting started to take its toll on the surviving features on the battlefields. Therefore, Canadian Veterans affairs organised a conference with archaeologists, historians, geologists, ecologists etc from Canada, France and britain to come up with a plan on what to take into acount for the upkeep of a preserved battlefield site. This came known as the 'Vimy Charter for conservation of Historic Battlefield terrain.' and is now used as a basic rule for all Canadian battlefield sites. It is unique in its nature and I would applaud to see the charter adopted on other 'preserved' battlefield sites of the first world war as well. The most important issues identified in the Charter are:
authenticity and integrity. Both are protected through conservation and retaining the original materials as far as possible. The charter does not favour reconstruction, as this takes away much of the authenticity. The 'commemorative layer' that is superimposed on the battlefield terrain should be complementary and supportive. Last but not not least visitor understanding and response are also regarded highly important.
If you have a good look around at the Newfoundland memorial Park, than you can see how these things have been taken into account when the park was re-organised a few years ago. Info panels have been put up and a visitor center as well, but in such a way that they don't intervene with the integrity of the preserved battlefield. Some places are now not accessible anymore due to decay of the site.

A similar way of dealing with these things can be found in Vimy.
If you're interested I can send you the full article, which was published in Battlefield review and more specialised academical press.

regards,

Bert

Jamie,

thank you very much for this, as a result I have just had a look through the CWGC site for the Cemetery and will pass this on to my son for his course work,

thanks again and regards,
Scottie.

Bert,

thank you very much for this information which is excellent and will be of use to him.

Thank you for your kind offer a copy of the the Battlefield Review magazine, however do you know what number issue you refer too as I do have some of them tucked away in my very poor filing system (a box in the loft) and I may have it already! (how very embarrassing requesting information that I may have at my fingertips, sorry!)

Thank you and regards,
Scottie.

I have some photos and a spare leaflet which I will gladly send you if it is of any help.
Also a maple leaf collected as a momento from one of the trees.
Regards
Bob e-mail bobnorman@fsmail.net

"Some places are now not accessible anymore due to decay of the site."

Which is a pity really since you can no longer roam around at will. Still, I understand the reason for it with greater numbers visiting, hence the large car park. Many of the places I have visited in the past, I was in solitude, now there is nearly always a coach, minibus or other. This is reflection only not a moan since the more education about the Great war the better!

Patrick

Cockney,

I'll send you the reference this weekend

regards,

Bert

A number of Essex Regiment casualties from the 1st July 1916 attack at Beaumont Hamel are buried in the KNIGHTSBRIDGE CEMETERY, MESNIL-MARTINSART which is on the slope behind Newfoundland Park

Owen,

thank you for this, I will check out the cemetery on the CWGC site,
regards,
Scottie.