The trenches around the fortress town of Beaumont Hamel are some of the best preserved on the Western Front, and to the original layout of the battlefield have been added the memorials and cemeteries of the men who remain here also.  The town was a key position because from there you could survey the fields and valleys around which the attacking forces had to cross.  

There's a large memorial dedicated to the Newfoundland Regiment, who made an unsuccessful attack here on July 1st 1916,  the opening day of the Somme which only lasted 30 minutes before they were almost entirely wiped out – it was their first action of the conflict.  The main preserved section of battlefield has been renamed the Newfoundland Memorial Park.

On the top of the hill is a flagpole with a plaque at the bottom of it which celebrates the capture of Beaumont Hamel by the 51st Highland Division on the 13th of November 1916 which has the story of the battle written on it from the text by a man who was there the day the first flag was planted.  

Down the hill from the flag is the field.  As you walk towards Auchovillers you have to cross first the German lines near the Hawthorn Crater, then the dug in British lines.  The bomb blast at Hawthorn Redoubt that formed the Hawthorn Crater was the most northerly shell exploded on July 1st and was the first to blow, almost signalling the start of the battle of the Somme.  Further on is Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery Number One, which was built on what was in 1916 No Man's Land.  Just beyond again is the Sunken Lane from which Geofrey Malins filmed the mine explosions on Hawthorn Ridge – this is one of the most commonly seen pieces of Great War footage.  

One of the other main memorials on the field is a huge Celtic cross which is the memorial for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Written by  Toby Bright.

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