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GOT IT

WELCOME TO
THE BUTTE de WARLENCOURT

The Butte seen from above. The village of Le Sars in the background.

A lovely black and white photo of the Butte de Warlencourt taken from the Bapaume to Albert road.

A December 1916 trench map showing the location of the Butte de Warlencourt and the nearby village of Le Sars. The red German trench lines can be clearly seen.

The memorial at the top of the Butte de Warlencourt.

The attack of the Durham Light Infantry on the Butte de Warlencourt.

******* CHECK THE NEW FORMAT HISTORY SECTION WHERE ARTICLES ARE MUCH EASIER TO READ! IT LOOKS GREAT!********** ******* GREAT NEWS! AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS HOME PAGE WE NOW HAVE A VIDEO EMBEDDED INTO THE PAGE WHERE ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK ON IT TO PLAY IT. *********

Welcome to the website dedicated to the Butte de Warlencourt, an iconic site which is located on the World War One Somme battlefields situated close to the town of Bapaume in the Pas de Calais department in Northern France. Originating from Roman times, the Butte (French for ‘hill’) is a mound some sixty feet high which in WW1 was held by the Germans at the end of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and in a fashion, marked the final line of the British advance on the Somme.

After nearly 30 years of ownership by the Western Front Association, (WFA), a charity based in United Kingdom, the Butte was bought by its present owner Bob Paterson in 2018. Bob and his wife Julia spend a sizeable part of the year living in the close by village of Morval and apart from ensuring the existence of the Butte as a historic, accessible, well known, World War One site, the owners recommenced a restoration project which had been started and progressed by Bob in his WFA days but subsequently had stalled after his departure. Details of maintenance, enhancements and general love and attention of the Butte appear on this website or on Instagram and Twitter, however it is strongly reiterated that the Butte will always be the Butte and that will never change.

Visitors are more than welcomed to the Butte. There is a map at the bottom on this page showing its exact location which is opposite the village of Warlencourt, some three miles from Bapaume on the D929 Albert to Bapaume road. Admission is free and there ample is car parking available metres from the main gate. Various informative information boards are located on the walkway after entering and also on the summit where an orientation board and the memorial are also located. Access to the summit for its breathtaking views of the battlefields is by the well cared for walkway however due to the hilly nature of the site, access may not be suitable for everyone. There are four rest benches on the site where visitors can sit have a coffee or picnic or just simply reflect on the various actions that happened here over 100 years ago. Entrance to the site is at an individuals own risk and visitors must stay within the dedicated handrail area

Have a look please at the rest of this, the Butte's official website please. Apart from giving details of all improvements and developments at the Butte in the News section, the mixture of pictures on the Gallery page is fascinating. In the newly revamped History pages we are delighted to publish an article from renowned historian Jack Sheldon regarding the fighting at the Butte in the autumn of 1916 as seen from a German perspective. Also shown is a report written at the time by VC winner Roland Boys Bradford regarding the November 1916 attack on the Butte and we have added a nice article regarding the weather and underfoot conditions facing the troops of all sides in the autumn of 1916. Have a look please at the History pages, now they are refomatted it is our aim to add and change articles on a more regular basis. We are pleased to have a video now embedded onto this home page where with a simple click you can open it and see the Butte in all its present glory. Many thanks to Butte Associate Steve Kerr for allowing us to use this video.

Thank you for visiting this website. We update the site regularly so hopefully you will visit us again and see what is happening. As above, there is also a Butte Instagram account,the address of which is butte_de_warlencourt and a Twitter account address @ButteDeWar. We all want as many people as possible to visit the Butte and to engage with it and with what happened there over 100 years ago and to that aim we also hope that you may become a member of our non-profit making Butte de Warlencourt Association, the link to do so which gives fuller details of membership is above. For info, our email address is info@buttedewarlencourt.com (Page updated January 2023)