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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

The Quarry Cemetery Vermelles


Bellflower

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I was there a couple of weeks ago and it appears that it has no visitors book or box to keep it in . Anyone know why or if I missed it where exactly is it ?

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In some of the smaller cemeteries there are quite often no registers; in the halcyon days of the original cemetery registers, not the ghastly dummed-down things we have now, you used to find registers that were for a group of cemeteries, which I suspect is the case with Quarry. I have looked through the registers I have (I have a lot of the Loos area) and cannot find it I am afraid. Here is the online register

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_reports.aspx?cemetery=4003820&mode=1

Michelle

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thamks for the info' Michelle , haven't had a chance to look at any replies for a while. Don't know if it gets many visitors as it is not visible from the road, but it is very well looked after.

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I was there in early May and the CWGC have cleared all the hedge from the perimeter and installed a fence; I think it suffers with damage from wildlife, I remember disturbing a hare once as I went through the opening posts and have seen a family of hedgehogs in there too. I assume the new fence is an attempt to keep hares out.

Michelle

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I have been there several times this year, I suspect the cemetery is quite well visited due to its proximity to the Hohenzollern Redoubt. There is now a little sign erected by the commune of Auchy les Mines near the entrance.

There is a suggestion that the late Queen Mother's brother Fergus Bowes Lyons might be buried there.

Moriaty

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  • 6 months later...

I shall be visiting this cemetery with friends in the next couple of weeks. I've examined it on Google maps and IGN but can't see an obvious car parking spot nearby. Can anyone give advice on this? We don't mind walking a bit.

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Mark, there is quite a large area where you can leave a vehicle pretty close to the cemetery, you just pull off the track. Mind you last time I was there it was as dry as a bone and there was no risk of the car sinking! :whistle: I have been there in the wet and I just pulled off the track OK

Michelle

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Thanks. How firm is the track down and can you turn round without going 'off road'? Mrs H. is always nervous about this following a few hair-raising visits to out of the way cemeteries over the years!

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Mark – this is a view of the access track from the Vermelles – Auchy road to Quarry Cemetery before the trees round the cemetery (right of photo) were cut down. The parking / turning area beside the cemetery entrance is big and no problem, but, at the end of the corn on the photo (edit - just before you reach the cemetery entrance) is the low point in the track, and if you are going to have a problem it will be there. If its dry or just damp then ok; otherwise use your own judgement.

The Hohenzollern Redoubt is just out of shot left of photo distant.

Just a warning round there – keep your car in a visible location, locked, and don’t leave anything valuable on display.

post-108-0-64990700-1342383929_thumb.jpg

Tom

Edited by Tom Tulloch-Marshall
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  • 3 weeks later...

We visited last week with our friend, whose great-uncle was killed and grandfather wounded in 5th Cameron Highlanders' attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 25th September 1915. A middle-aged woman whom we asked for directions in the middle of Vermelles had clearly never heard of Quarry Cemetery, even though it's all of a mile outside the village. We got there in the end without much difficulty, although the only CWGC sign we saw was at the access track itself. A beautiful and unusual cemetery and we did venture further along the track towards the Hohenzollern Redoubt, monitoring our progress with a trench map on Linesman. I was able to describe the progress of the attack, using the trench map and battalion War Diary. Thanks for the assistance.

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Incidentally I notice that Fergus Bowes-Lyon now has a headstone in the cemetery but is also commemorated on the Dud Corner Memorial, like John Kipling. Will the CWGC, in the fullness of time, remove these names? Of course, the identification of the burial in St. Mary's ADS as John Kipling continues to be controversial, as evidenced by previous threads on this forum.

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Interesting, when was he identified and the grave named. I would have thought that for the uncle of the current Queen that there would have been much publicity.

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