Operation Kiwi DVD now available

We are very pleased to announce that a DVD recording the work undertaken during Operation Kiwi, the excavation of the Terrain Model of Messines on Cannock Chase is now available at at cost of £15 + £2 p&p for delivery to a UK address or £15 + £5 p&p for delivery outside the UK.

Told in three parts of 50 minutes each, experts, volunteers and locals reveal the story of the model from its construction, through its use as a tourist attraction to the 2013 excavations and the landscape over which the Battle of Messines was fought in 1917. Created as part of the process of recording the excavations and research, this is a non profit product and is only available in the PAL format. (Europe, New Zealand, Australia).

Please select:

Post to UK address: £17.00 GBP Post to an address outside of the UK: £20.00 GBP

Reunion for Volunteers

Last Sunday a reunion of volunteers who helped with the excavation of the Terrain Model on Cannock Chase was held at the Education centre on Marquis Drive. There were talks about the project and an short film of the excavations was shown. There was also opportunity to examine the finds, visit the Great War Hut, an excellent selection of cakes washed down with tea, coffee and a little Belgian beer.

Messines Model featured on Inside Out

Last night 21st October 2013, Inside Out West Midlands featured our work on the Cannock Chase Model of Messines. If you missed it you can catch it on iPlayer until next Monday. Inside Out on iPlayer

Work is progressing well

Despite the torrential rain yesterday, work to protect the Model of Messines on Cannock Chase is progressing well, massive thanks to all our volunteers who braved the weather. The work continues today.

More about the Battle of Messines

As our project on the Messines model draws to a close, we would like to provide some additional information about the battle and the New Zealanders who fought there:

nzhistory.net.nz Has a selection of pages dedicated to Messines


www.army.gov.au has an article on the Australian involvement at Messines

plugstreet-archaeology.com is No Man's Land's site about the work we are doing in Belgium



We can now also confirm that the reinstatement will begin on Monday 14th of October, if any of our volunteers would like to assist or any new volunteers would like to help it would be much appreciated. Please email Jo on cannockwwiexcavations@gmail.com to let us know which day(s) you can help. If you haven't volunteered on site during the excavation,  please contact Jo  to register before arriving on site.

Cannock Model Information Boards

Our information boards have now been removed from the site for safe keeping, but copies are now available below.

Click the images to enlarge for reading:

The Last Days

The excavation of the model of Messines on Cannock Chase are almost complete. We have a small area left to uncover and then the cleaning of the model needs to be finalised as the 3D scanning team will begin their work on Wednesday.

Over the weekend and early part of next week our team and volunteers and will be very busy. As well as finishing the last few metres of the model,  we also need to photograph it to record it and to provide images to be used as a texture for the digital model.

The Men of Messines

 Looking back through time, it is easy to look at the major battles of the Great War from the point of view of tactics, landscape and politics, but these were battles fought by individuals who formed the Platoons within Companies, which made up the Battalions, which formed the Brigades, which made up the Divisions of the Army. It is the stories of these individuals which reveal the details of the battle and the lives of people at that time.

No Man's Land, have a website which follows the progress of our work in Belgium, included in the site are pages dedicated to the men of Plumer's Second Army and also the men of German Army at Messines whose role in the battle must not be forgotten.

If you can add the names of any men who took part in the Battle of Messines, please use the forms on our website to add their story.

Photographs and archaeology at the Messines Model

One of the more well known tales of the Model of Messines on Cannock Chase is the story of its use as a tourist attraction between the wars, when the custodian had a tin hut at one corner of the model and would give tours for a charge of six pence. In fact earlier in the week we had a visit from a gentleman who had taken the tour with his father in the 1930's and a relative of the custodian has made several visits to observe our progress.

Our amateur historians, Lee and Richard have been studying the photographs of the hut and working out where it was situated, by comparison to the existing landscape and the remains of the model as our team uncover them. Careful study of these small images has revealed vital elements of the history of the terrain model.

In one corner we have uncovered a very solid concrete construction and in the top soil close to the banking a small collection of debris including a bucket handle, bottle tops and broken glass, contemporary with the period the hut was in use. There are also traces of what could be the remains of the floor of the hut. Were these concrete blocks added to support the small hut? They are very solid and the presence of two post notches suggest that they may have been reused in situ rather than built for the hut. Perhaps part of a viewing platform for the troops? We know from photographs of the terrain models in Flanders, that they included a raised wooden platform for troops to view the model from above, was a similar arrangement in place here? We hope the archaeology will reveal the answer as we continue to excavate.

If anyone can help answer this question, please get in touch.

For a closer look at the 1930's photos please see http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/chasecamps/archaeology.htm

Soggy Sunday

With the weather forecast predicting rain, rain, wind and more rain, members of No Man's Land and a small number of volunteers arrived on site at 9am, under grey skies we all expected the worst. However, the tarpaulins had remained in placeover night and after a session of bailing and careful water management, we were able to uncover part of our working area and cautiously begin work.

Archaeology and wet weather are not a good mix, as it is all too easy to make a mess and potentially miss small features in the mud. The model of Messines was constructed using fragments of brick, pebbles and poor quality mortar, 40 plus years of exposure to the elements and almost another half century burried beneath a thin layer of top soil, has left the model in a fragile condition. When wet, the crumbling structures of the model are soft and even more easily damaged, so extra care had to be taken.

Despite the conditions we managed to extend our excavation by a few meters and just to the south of the town of Messines we began to uncover an area of the model which depicts the scene of one of the most famous incidents of the attack on the 7th of June 1917. Pte Samuel Frickleton of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade took out two enemy machine gun posts, allowing the men of his company to advance and capture part of the town, for this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

After much discussion, consulting of historic documents, trench maps and additional information provided by our contacts in New Zealand, including a copy of Sam Frickleton's own hand drawn map, our team narrowed down the possible points of this action and discovered a small feature in the model, which may pinpoint the location of one of the two machine gun posts.

The plaque next to Messines Church commemorating Frickleton's VC, it states

his action was  "Close to this place" have we now pinpointed the exact spot?

As we paused for lunch the clouds began to close in and the advancing waves of rain brought an end to our site work in mid afternoon, we retreated to the shelter of the tea room and continued to follow the paper trail of maps and documents to confirm our theories on the location of Frickleton's heroic action and chased tales of other individuals on the 7th of June 1917 and the landscape we hope to reveal tomorrow.

In Saturday's Sunshine

One week on from the launch of the excavation of the model of Messines on Cannock Chase and work is progressing well. Today we had a good number of volunteers and additional members of No Man's Land have arrived for the weekend.

We have also had an increase in visitors coming along to see the model and Lee has been on site to give short talks and an explanation of progress.

 

In places the model is incomplete and we have had tales relayed of buildings being removed and used as garden ornaments after the model had become overgrown in the 1960's. Some of the buildings have been given to the Chase rangers in more recent times. If you know of the location of any buildings taken from the model, we would love to hear from you. Likewise if you have any old photos of the model or any of the buildings in use as rockery features,  we would love to see a copy, they would be a great aid to our research. 

Exploring Messines

Friday morning and our team have already stripped the turf from the southern end of the model town of Messines, close to the site of the church.

Messines Church today.

Here we should find the depiction of the Institution Royale which was built as a monastery and later used as an orphanage and in the early 1900's as a school. After the capture of Messines in 1914, the substantial buildings and their extensive cellars were fortified by the Germans to provide protection from Allied artillery and infantry advances.

A prewar post card of the Institution Royale in Messines.

German Concrete fortifications on the hill at Messines, possibly built inside the 

Institution Royale, this image is from the collection of the Australian War Memorial.

Memories and Family History

Today we have had some interesting local visitors to the site, including two brothers whose father came to the area from Leicestershire as one of the civilians brought in to construct the camps on the Chase. The elder brother has vague childhood memories of visiting the Messines model between the wars.

Another visitor brought a photograph of his grandfather as a prisoner of war, he relayed fond memories of his time in the camp and revealed that his grandfather developed a liking for tea and continued to drink English tea even after returning to his native country.

We also had a visit from a Kiwi, now living locally whose father had been part of the NZEF and spent time at Brocton Camp. He also has some photos which may have been taken at the camp.

If you have any personal connections to Brocton Camp, any photos, stories or documents, we would love to hear from you. Please

email cannockwwiexcavations@gmail.com

If you would like to join us we are looking for more volunteers to help with the excavation, if you can pledge any time over the next two and a half weeks, please get in touch by email.

 

Interesting aspects

At the northern edge of the model our volunteers have just uncovered a very interesting area. Close to a trench system is what we first thought was going to be another section of road, but as the top soil was peeled back, inscribed lines were revealed between the pebbles. 

What is? We're not sure yet, but hopefully all will be revealed.

We will let you know as soon as we know.

TV Tuesday

Today, Tuesday 10th, BBC Midlands will be broadcasting live from the site on breakfast news bulletins.

There will also be a live broadcast on the evening news on Midlands Today. 

If you are outside the Midlands area you can catch it on iplayer or via the BBC Midlands website.

Later today another crew from the BBC will be arriving onsite to provide live updates throughout the day on News24 and features on the BBC1 News at 1pm, 6pm and 10pm.

A clip from the broadcast.

Monday at Messines in Miniature

Firstly a special thank you to our volunteers and to Jaguar Landrover for supporting Operation Kiwi as part of their community initiative, today a were joined by several of their employees who swapped the tools on the Discovery line for a line trowels on our site. They all had an enjoyable day expanding their skillset to include archaeology under instruction from Jon, who moved up to the main trench as it continued to expand.

We look forward to working with them again tomorrow and with their colleagues later in the week.


We are also grateful for the support of Spring Slade Lodge on Camp Road, Cannock Chase for the use of their facilities. If you are on the Chase their tea room is an excellent place to take a break. www.springsladelodge.co.uk

Today the BBC have been on site, filming a report for Midlands Today, they will be broadcasting live from the site during the evening bulletin tomorrow, 10th Sept.

Work on the excavation is progressing well, today we uncovered more of the town of Messines, including a large pond to the west of the main street and part of the second line of defences to the north of the town.

Thanks to everyone who volunteered with us today, we had quite a few visitors offering their time, but there are still spaces available of you would like to join us.

Another successful day

The sun continued to shine most of the day and work is progressing quite well. Though the number of volunteers who actually turned up was a little disappointing.

Jon's team uncovered a good sized area and the model is in reasonable condition  with just a small amount of root damage.

Our larger trench progressed more slowly with heavily damaged areas and dense roots making the work difficult in places. However the problem areas are beginning to be resolved and the features do match up with contemporary air photos.

At the back of a row of model houses on the northern edge of Messines,  cleaning revealed the back door of one house had been included with a trench leading to it.

As the soil was peeled back this feature developed into a series of trenches leading to cellar entrances of each property in the block. This matches exactly with the 1917 trench map and air photos,  showing the attention to detail in building the terrain model.



Our team and volunteers all had an enjoyable day, so much so that the additional hours have been pledged. But we are still short of labour on site so if you would like to be part of this unique project we would welcome your assistance. No experience is necessary,  if you would like to learn about archaeology we would be pleased to teach you the basics.

Extending the area

Our team and volunteers make a start on extending the area of the excavation.

Sunday morning

Sunday morning and the sun is shining. If you are near Cannock Chase why not pay a visit to our site? We are close to Freda's Grave. There are still volunteer places available if you'd like to join us, come along for chat.

Saturday on site

After the down pours of Friday, we were happy to wake to blue skies and bright sunshine. Members of No Man's Land,  Staffordshire County Council and our first volunteers met at the site for an introduction to the model and an overview of the military history of the Chase and the Battle of Messines.

Once orientated we moved inside the fenced area and began the task of revealing the terrain model, starting with the area previously excavated in 2006. Beneath the protective covering the model was in good condition and a small group supervised by Jon were quickly engaged in cleaning the miniature trenches.

The second group began work in the centre of the site, taking over the long trench opened last week. This trench centres on the cross roads of Messines and in comparing the model buildings to the 1916 trench map those of us who regularly stay in the town soon felt at home.

It must be remembered that the town was reduced to rubble in the opening bombardment of the Battle in June 1917 and the buildings we know so well were rebuilt on the original plots in the 1920s mostly in the same styles. As we revealed the concrete model buildings it became obvious that the model depicted the town in ruins, with fragments of brick representing shell damaged roofs.

The question is, what date does the model depict?

If you would like to join us, there are still volunteer places available, please email cannockwwiexcavations@gmail.com for further details.