French Flanders: Armentières, Nieppe & Steenwerck Part Two – Pont-de-Nieppe Communal Cemetery

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The road from Armentières north west to Bailleul passes through a number of small communities each of which, it won’t surprise you to hear, host their own CWGC cemetery. Continue reading →

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French Flanders: Armentières to La Gorgue Part Two – Suffolk Cemetery, La Rolanderie Farm

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Suffolk Cemetery, La Rolanderie Farm, can be found in the middle of the fields a few hundred yards south of the town of Erquinghem-Lys. Continue reading →

Posted in Armentières to La Gorgue, French Flanders | 27 Comments

Guerre 1914

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It is nearly midnight on Christmas Day, and I should probably be fast asleep by now, bearing in mind that they dragged me dahn the pub at 11.30 this morning!  The Missus has done the chauffeuring all day, Morecambe & Wise are Singing in the Rain on the telly, and I thought you needed to see this fascinating postcard that I obtained a couple of months ago.  In order to work it out, here’s what you need to know.  It’s a French postcard, it says Guerre 1914 (not 1915, nor 1916, nor Grande Guerre, just Guerre 1914) at the top, and at the bottom it says ‘German Infantry on the road to’ and then a black oblong, which is pre-printed, not censored. Continue reading →

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Happy Christmas One & All

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I delved into the collection to bring you this Christmas card from exactly one hundred years ago (censored, you will note), featuring a painting of a place we visited on our trip to the Somme earlier in the year, Delville Wood.  To all those of you who have followed our travels this year, thank you for so doing, and to all of you who have gone one step further and posted a comment at some point, I thank you too.

Have a Cool Yule y’all, and an even better 2017.

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French Flanders: Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension & The Reverend David Railton M.C.

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The small town of Erquinghem-Lys, a very short distance to the south west of Armentières, was occupied briefly by the Germans early in October 1914, before the British captured it on the 16th of the month.  From then it remained a short distance behind the British lines until the German advance of April 1918. Continue reading →

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Dublin – Glasnevin Cemetery Part Two: The Commonwealth Plot

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Glasnevin Cemetery is a vast place, but, as it happened, the other area I was intent on visiting was not so far from the O’Connell tower (above) and the Republican Plot that we saw last post. Continue reading →

Posted in Dublin - The Easter Rising, Dublin Cemeteries with Great War Burials, Victoria Cross | 4 Comments

Dublin – Glasnevin Cemetery Part One: The Republican Plot & Elsewhere

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Glasnevin Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Ireland, covering some 120 acres, more than a million and a half souls having been buried here since it was opened in 1832. Continue reading →

Posted in Dublin - The Easter Rising, Dublin Cemeteries with Great War Burials, Ireland | 6 Comments