Is it getting closer - update of earlier article : June 2021
03 June 2021
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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 an 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 planned maintenance enhancements and general love and attention of the Butte will appear in the News section of this site and on Instagram, however it is strongly reiterated that the Butte will always be the Butte and that will never change.
Visitors are more than welcomed to visit the Butte. There is a map at the bottom on this page which is showing its exact location which is opposite the village of Warlencourt, some three miles from Bapaume on the D929 Albert to Bapaume road in the Pas de Calais departement in Northern France. There ample is car parking available metres from the entrance and various very informative information boards are located on the walkway after entering and on the summit where the memorial is also located. Access to the summit for its breathtaking views of the battlefields is by a 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 at the rest of this, the Butte's official website please. Apart from giving details of all improvements and developments at the Buttte in the News section, the mixture of pictures on the Gallery page is fascinating. In the History pages we have published a report written at the time by VC winner Roland Boys Bradford regarding the November 1916 attack on the Butte and have added a nice article regarding the weather and underfoot conditions facing the troops of all sides in the autumn of 1916. The various attacks on the Butte late in 1916 as is a nice time-line piece covering the arrival of WW1 in Bapaume and surrounds in August and September 1914. In the History pre 1914 section,there is a nice summary regarding the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian war action in the area.
Thank you for visiting the site. We update the site regularly so hopefully you will come and visit us again. There is also a Butte Instagram account which you may want to look at, the address of which is butte_de_warlencourt. 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.
The Butte has a story to tell so let us all best tell it. If you have any stories or photographs of the Butte and surrounds we would be delighted to receive them and if possible they will appear on this site, on Instagram or in the Associates newsletters. Our email address is info@buttedewarlencourt.com. Finally, may we also sincerely thank our various sponsors, details of which are in the Sponsor section, the link to which is also above. (Page updated June 2021).
