Nigel Marshall

It was a real pleasure to bump into @milhistdiddy.bsky.social this evening at the Menin Gate.

A couple kneeling in front of the lady’s grandfather’s grave in a war cemetery in northern France.

A view over Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension in Northern France.

He died of wounds at 8 Casualty Clearing Station, Bailleul and is buried in the extension to the Communal Cemetery. The family was told that he was shot in the shoulder, with the bullet penetrating his chest, while working underground near Ploegsteert Wood.
Cpl Alexander Angus

A lady kneeling in front of her grandfather’s grave in a war cemetery is n northern France.

At the grave of one of the earliest casualties from 1st Australian Tunnelling Company during their time on the Western Front, the lady’s grandfather, who is said to have lied about his age to enlist, by knocking ten years off. He was 54 years old.

Hi John. Very well thanks. Will get back to you this evening. Cheers

So… Somme to Paris this afternoon to pick up a tour tomorrow.
Going via Lille… obviously!

I had a feline someone might make an awful pun…

My cat, Sou, watching me write a booking in my diary.

My secretary is rubbish.
I’ll do my own bookings.

A reminder, folks, that Great War battlefields can still be dangerous. Exploding ordnance has injured a construction worker as he dug in a car park at Moreuil, SE of Amiens this morning. #FWW

Two elderly men admiring a goose on the run-up to Christmas in 1949. The man on the right being my great granddad, Andrew Kilkenny. He wears a Homburg hat, heavy, long, woolen coat, leather gloves and carries a silver-topped cane. He was 88 years old in this photo.

My favourite Christmas photo.
My great granddad (right) choosing his Christmas goose. Leeds Markets c.1949.
He’s a dapper 88 yr old army pensioner, having served 24 yrs from 1878. C/Sgt Andrew Kilkenny, York & Lancaster Regiment.

Red wine and Belgian Chocolates - a surprise gift from Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours, who have sent me on many memorable tours during 2024.

Red wine and Belgian Chocolates - a surprise gift from Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours, who have sent me on many memorable tours during 2024.

To cap off another year guiding tours of the #WW1 battlefields, a surprise gift arrived, just now, from Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours in Sydney.
This is very much appreciated, and thank you for sending me on some very memorable trips during 2024.
Here’s to 2025!

A German Christmas card from 1915.

Wishing everyone a joyous and peaceful festive season.

It’s bottocino stone. Sometimes described as a marble, but it’s not a true marble.
It’s being used because it’s more durable and it’s tighter grain doesn’t support moss and lichen growth as well as limestone. It’s easier to clean too.

Sinkhole in the banking of the road leading into Riencourt lés Cagnicourt.

Sinkhole at Riencourt.

An inclined shaft which appears to lead down to the remains of a dugout in a former trench on the road into Riencourt lés Cagnicourt.

Recent heavy rains have opened a few sinkholes on the former #FWW battlefields.
This one appears to be an inclined shaft leading down to the remains of a dugout, of which there were several in this substantial trench system.

My touring year is coming to its close when this trip ends on Thursday. It’s been a really busy year, with many memorable moments for guest and me alike.
We’ll bid a fond farewell to Ieper in the morning as we head to Amiens, via Fromelles, Bullecourt, Pozières and Daours.
Roll on 2025!

After seeing a couple of bits of my neighbour’s roof in my garden this morning, I thought we’d been hit hard by the weather… then I saw photos from the UK.
That looks rough.

Appalling.
The women I know who do this invariably put many of the male guides to shame with their prep and knowledge.
I honestly thought we were more supportive of each other than this suggests we are.

Happy to oblige!
Still waiting for my guests though…
2hrs delay by the time they get here

Well, Amiens is a bit of a mess this morning… there’s a bendy bus stuck across the road because it tried to U turn and wasn’t bendy enough to get round.
And there’s an incident on railway at Glisy too.
My people coming from Lille are currently delayed by 90 minutes.

It’s exactly in the place as described, Simon. Thank you.

I think it might be, David, although there is also some suspicion that there was a mine crater here too. I believe @sommecourt.bsky.social has suggested this may be the case. The shape of the subsidence suggests it follows a tunnel, but we’ll know more once work starts to open the ground.

Trench maps of the late war highlight that cellars have been used. This hole may well be the collapse of tunnels linking cellars in different buildings.
Whatever it is, it looks like there’s an underground network which didn’t like being disturbed by the water company.

All of the area to the right of the image has dropped by about 30 - 40 cm. This won’t be a patch and move on repair.

Look through the gate. Is that the remains of a tunnel?

Serious shift in the road surface.

More photos of the hole in Beaulencourt.

Main junction in Beaulencourt showing the hole caused by an underground collapse, probably of a German tunnel from WW1.

Alongside the open hole, further subsidence can be seen, and it extends into the garden behind the ‘Stop’ sign.

More subsidence, this time on the opposite side of the hole. Overall, a stretch of about 50 metres shows signs of collapse or movement.

Various layers of the sub-surface are visible, including a layer of brick rubble which is likely to be ‘clean up’ after WW1.

Beaulencourt, 4km SE of Bapaume. I went to have a look at the hole on the ground yesterday with a mate who’d seen it a few days earlier.
It’s big, and the movement in the ground extends much further than the actual hole. It’s going to take a long time to repair. #WW1

I’m fully in favour of Marshall law.

Today, during #WW1 the battle of Cambrai began. The first major use of tanks, 476 tanks of various varieties were deployed.
When I joined the Army, my training platoon was named Cambrai. My army number ends with 476, and my trade was Gunfitter. Maintenance and repair of main armaments on tanks…

Thanks for the recommendation, Chez. I’ve just ordered this, and the Brigadier General Glasgow book.
I’m a very regular visitor to Noreuil, and I often guide for relatives of men in Glasgow’s brigade, so these will be very useful.

Cheers!
You too.

Welcome - The Long, Long Trail All about the British Army of the First World War. Find how to research the men and women who served, and stacks of detail about the army organisation, battles, and the battlefields.

Chris Baker @1418research.bsky.social has an article on www.longlongtrail.co.uk/walter-danie... about this from the last time it was raised.
Nothing has changed, so I can’t see it going anywhere.

MA certainly won’t hinder you. You have that and have researched a book. Solid foundations for researching actions and tours.

That’s fair. There’s an element of leaping into the unknown, regardless of how well you know your stuff.