Jump to content
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Looking Towards Passchendaele from the Cloth Hall Tower


Recommended Posts

Posted

Does anyone have a photograph from the top of the Cloth Hall tower looking towards Passchendaele? I've got lots looking back from various parts of the salient but I thought it would be good to have something looking the other way for something I'm writing about a man called James Brannick. I have an excellent shot taken by Mark @Gardenerbill looking towards Railway Wood and Bellewaarde across the Menin Gate, and his son took a panorama which includes the view towards Passchendaele. Unfortunately they were up there on a very wet day and the visibility is not that good. If a photo is available I'd like to use in an article for a not for profit football website. It will appeal to my readership (provided he's not on holiday).

 

Pete.

Posted

 

Pete - probably not quite what you're looking for, but this is one of the views I have....

 

980639229_IMG_1549-GroteMarketMeninGate-Copy.JPG.58bb74e7c3172b37154d1a6b24a98e58.JPG

Posted

wouaouh!!!

Need to get up there… with wide angle lens!!

 

M.

Posted
13 hours ago, frev said:

Pete - probably not quite what you're looking for, but this is one of the views I have....

 

Au contraire Frev, when I got it up on the screen at maximum resolution and traced the sightlines using Google Earth it is exactly what I am looking for, that is absolutely brilliant.

 

I think I can pick up Zonnebeke church but there are what appear to be two church towers to the north and I can't quite work out which one is Passchendaele. However it is just excellent as it is. What I didn't realise until I started plotting lines on maps was that the village is much closer to the line from the tower to the Menin Gate, it's just to the left as you look. For some reason I thought it was much further round off to the north.

 

Can I be cheeky and ask for the original if it is a higher resolution? I'll drop you an email if you are on the same address if that is ok.

 

11 hours ago, Marilyne said:

wouaouh!!!

Need to get up there… with wide angle lens!!

 

M.

 

Wide angle lens, telephoto lenses, the lot. If of course you can lug all of your equipment up there; perhaps you can get your camera bag helicoptered in? I'm sure it would be a good exercise for logistics. I actually can't believe you've never been up - you are clearly spending too much time taking selfies with waffles in the square down below.......B)

 

Pete.

Posted
10 hours ago, Fattyowls said:

 

 

I think I can pick up Zonnebeke church but there are what appear to be two church towers to the north and I can't quite work out which one is Passchendaele. However .

 

I actually can't believe you've never been up - you are clearly spending too much time taking selfies with waffles in the square down below.......B)

 

Pete.

 

you sure it's Zonnebeke on the left??? Looks close. Maybe St Jan???

I might be mistaken…

 

I've been up there… but a long time ago!! So yes I'll go back up, with the material! Bound to be a good exercice, especially if I had a waffle before!!

 

M.

 

Posted
10 hours ago, Fattyowls said:

What I didn't realise until I started plotting lines on maps was that the village is much closer to the line from the tower to the Menin Gate, it's just to the left as you look. For some reason I thought it was much further round off to the north.

 

The church tower on the left hand side is Sint-Jan.

 

Jan

Posted
1 hour ago, AOK4 said:

 

The church tower on the left hand side is Sint-Jan.

 

Jan

 

Thanks Jan, that's really helpful. I'm looking at my photos taken around Railway Wood to see if they help identification - it has made me look at them in a new way which is good.

 

1 hour ago, Marilyne said:

Bound to be a good exercice, especially if I had a waffle before!!

 

:angry2:

Posted (edited)

Can I post a big thank you to Frev for sending me the larger version of her photo. I am going to try drawing sight lines on Google Earth and then try to transpose them on the photo, however before I do this I need to clean my laptop screen. I keep seeing church towers which are actually dust or other indeterminate stains.

 

On 18/09/2019 at 07:12, Marilyne said:

you sure it's Zonnebeke on the left??? Looks close. Maybe St Jan???

I might be mistaken…

 

You are correct, I can't tell my left from my right. But you probably knew that already from the last time I tried to navigate between Gheluvelt and Hollebeke.....

 

Pete.

Edited by Fattyowls
  • 1 year later...
Posted

Hi. My great uncle was James Brannick

On 15/09/2019 at 20:52, Fattyowls said:

Does anyone have a photograph from the top of the Cloth Hall tower looking towards Passchendaele? I've got lots looking back from various parts of the salient but I thought it would be good to have something looking the other way for something I'm writing about a man called James Brannick. I have an excellent shot taken by Mark @Gardenerbill looking towards Railway Wood and Bellewaarde across the Menin Gate, and his son took a panorama which includes the view towards Passchendaele. Unfortunately they were up there on a very wet day and the visibility is not that good. If a photo is available I'd like to use in an article for a not for profit football website. It will appeal to my readership (provided he's not on holiday).

 

Pete.

Hi Pete. I'm curious to know why you state "I'm writing about a man called James Brannick" He was my great Uncle, do we have something in common. Regards Norman Brannick.

Posted

image.png.109436209c8ee6e85acc9a9cb7d45fe4.png

Posted

P1230495.JPG

P1230496.JPG

P1230500.JPG

P1230565.JPG

P1230550.JPG

Posted

Hi Fattyowls,

 

I've added my tuppence h'penny, which doesn't add much to previous posts (it was a misty day when I was there and the zoom lens isn't up to much). However, I've also included snaps of the relevant panorama provided at the top of the tower (taken on a much sunnier day!)

 

Richard

Posted
On 20/02/2021 at 13:34, Brannick said:

Hi Pete. I'm curious to know why you state "I'm writing about a man called James Brannick" He was my great Uncle, do we have something in common. Regards Norman Brannick.

 

Hi Norman and welcome to the forum. As you may know James played briefly for Everton; I am writing the stories of all of the players lost from the three football clubs with that name in the two world wars. If you do a search on your surname you will see there has been quite a lot of detail posted. I'm yet to complete my work on James and by coincidence there may be another player who was mortally wounded around the same time as James just to the south, so the Westhoek area remains a big interest.

 

Pete.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

here's a zoomed in photo ( to the maximum extent of my camera lens ), taken from the top of the cloth tower, showing both Passchendale church and tyne Cott Cemetery. This forms one part of a large panorama , that I took of the whole Salient. The Menin Gate is just out of shot to the right of this image.

 

 

Passchendaele church is to the left on the horizon, and tyne cott is just to the left of the centre of the frame

 

I will upload a further few images later today

passchendaele_and_tyne_cott.JPG.16df2e2e7996c01063d1342604e99273.JPG

 

Posted

An excellent addition MJH, many thanks (and congratulations on having such a steady hand).....

 

Pete.

Posted

a wider angle view of the salient with annotations from the top of the cloth tower

panorama.jpg.0e7cc97d12fe42284873a72d5a8f08f5.jpg

 

Posted

St Jackobskerk church with hill 62 canadian memorial in centre distance

DSC_0017.JPG.2f90b3eb579d48a8cfdbf09d07d2e437.JPG

 

Posted

Absolutely excellent MJH; the annotations really help. I thought that the prominent clump of trees just below the horizon to the right of the Menin Gate was Railway Wood but this confirms it nicely. I have a looking back shot from there which might be useful in what I'm writing. I'd seen another photo looking past Sint Jakobskerk with what I thought was the Hill 62 Memorial and this is also confirmation.

 

Thanks to you and all the contributors to this thread.

 

Pete.

Posted
On 21/02/2021 at 19:34, Dave O said:

Thanks to all for these wonderful pictures. It makes me yearn to be back in Ypres and the Salient again.

 

On 21/02/2021 at 23:18, Fattyowls said:

 

Hi Dave and welcome too. To make you pine a little more check out this thread for some stupendous photos by the forum chums.

 

Pete.

 

Good morning Dave, and welcome to the forum. 

Thanks for reminding me Pete, that I need to visit above mentioned thread for the pics of last WE, so I can let you guys enjoy a bit of Western Front.

 

M.

Posted
9 hours ago, mjh said:

wide angle view of the salient

DSC_0022.JPG

 

Nice. with the works going on, it might take a while until somebody can make another picture like that. 

 

M;

Posted

Glad you found the pictures useful Pete. They are from 2012.  I saw your thread, and thought they might be worth digging out.

 

Marilyne - what works are currently going on ?

Posted
38 minutes ago, mjh said:

Glad you found the pictures useful Pete

 

I have photographed the towers of Ieper from various points on the surrounding ridges so I've got plently of views looking back the other way. There are certain features which I can't identify from the Cloth Hall, like Hill 60 for instance, but it's not as if it's that easy to see the Cloth Hall from there either.....

 

Pete.

Posted
52 minutes ago, mjh said:

Marilyne - what works are currently going on ?

 

restauration works on the Cloth tower and the Belfort. 

Started in August last year and are supposed to be over start of 2022. It's completely packed in.

 

M.

Posted

Thanks Marilyne for the update. Looking forward to going back to Ypres for my 5th time !

Pete, I have looked through my zoomed in pics , and I have images going all the way round to Messines ridge. I think the one I'm posting below is of hill 60. Looking at google maps, there is a clear line of vision from the cloth hall to Hill 60

DSC_0002.JPG.8c25875bff823001e3034f832bd4e796.JPG

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...