2018 Battlefield Tour post 26
2018 France/ Belgium Trip Post No. 26
Our last day of the trip was spent local round the Zonnebeke/ Ypres area. In Schipstraat a couple of miles from Varlet Farm we stopped at Beecham Farm which is approx 400 yards from Tyne Cot Cemetery
On February 21st 1998, farmer Mr Callens of Beecham Farm went out to work on his fields as usual. He returned home at dinner time expecting to find his lunch on the table but could find no trace of his wife. She had disappeared into the ground while washing the windows into what was the WW1 Beecham Dugout.
When the farm was rebuilt after the war it was located in a slightly different position and inadvertently over the top of the dugout. Over the years the timber rotted and the roof collapsed.
The site was excavated, surveyed and timbers and artefacts removed before being filled in and made safe for the occupants to move back in.
The dugout was originally constructed by the Germans and T shape in design. When the Passchendaele Ridge was taken in Oct 1917 a unit of the 156 Regiment Royal Field Artillery occupied the position which accommodated four Officers and 66 men.
The dugout was found to have three entrances. The main gallery was fitted with three-tiered bunks on each side comprising timber frames and chicken-wire bed supports The gallery contained 42 separate bunks, the remainder of the space being for the storage of materials and weaponry. The south-eastern end of the gallery terminated in a
small room again bunked with accommodation space for three men, probably NCO's.
The transverse gallery was found to contain three-tier bunking for 21 men in its north-eastern arm, together with a small area for storage
The south-western arm was not bunked, but instead provided a route to and past an officers’ quarters, situated in a smaller room. This room was found to contain a two-tier bunk, a simple bed and a small table.
The archaeologists found a treasure trove of military equipment left behind including German and British rifles, ammo, respirators, tools, water bottles, kfs, shaving kit, buttons, boots and clothing of all description. All now safely housed in museums.
