The latest news from the Waterloo battlefield

Latest update : 07/05/2015

Here is the petition you can sign to support the extension of the protected zone of the battlefield :  https://14388.lapetition.be/ Please sign and share !

06 May 2015
The restoration of the Aigle blessé and the Victor Hugo column !

A new north gate was placed

(Beware, here, the gate is still covered with a wooden cover to protect it while the works are still going on.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same on the south gate

The  plaques for the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, have been placed back in the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the touristic plaque has been thoroughly cleaned.

Left, April 2013, right, May 2015.

28 April 2015 : a visit to the archeological excavations at Hougoumont.

24 April 2015

Inauguration of the restoration of the Brunswick and Hanoverian monument.

At last some progress in the works on the Aigle blessé and the Victor Hugo column !

 

21 March 2015

Some good news and bad news.
A planning permission has been introduced by the Inniskilling Museum in Enniskillen to adapt the place where the Inniskilling memorial stands. That way, it will be better protected and will be less likely to be hit by a car, truck, or tractor, as has been too often the case, as you can see here.

The bad news is that an awful illuminated sign has been put on the dovecot of the Mont-Saint-Jean farm. I thought it was forbidden to change the appearance of a listed building. Apparently, the law doesn't apply to all.

7 March 2015 : ongoing works on the Brunswick monument.

 

The company is named ...Schwarzenberg ! (Cf. the same that worked on the hanoverian monument)

 

 

22 November 2014 :

- Our restoration/cleaning of French monuments : http://napoleon-monuments.eu/ACMN/Restaurations2014.htm#141122Wat

- The Hanoverian monument is now done. Unfortunately, they forgot to replace some missing arrow point on the railings.

South side                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 East side

West side                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 North side


The barn at la Haie-Sainte has been repainted. Hopefully the east façade will follow soon...


Hougoumont north gate has been very well restored.

 

 

28/10/2014 : Excellent news : the Belgian police has found the Hougoumont Christ in a garage... in Braine l'Alleud, only a few km from where it was stolen ! The "owner" declared he didn't know it was stolen and said he had bought the 16th century sculpture in a flea market !

Both legs are still partly missing.

The news was announced on Friday 25/10/2014.

 

23/10/2014: The latest works on the battlefield


The Hanoverian monument is in scaffolding. The lettering is being regilded.

It's probably just an ironic coincidence, but the company in charge of the job is named... Schwarzenberg !

The "new" Cotton hotel...

Works at Hougoumont are progressing very well.

 
Click to zoom.

 

I am glad to notice that it has been foreseen to put both plaques to the Coldstream Guards, that were on the destroyed annex, back in place.
http://napoleon-monuments.eu/Napoleon1er/1815Goumont.htm#ColdstG

The so-called gardener's house has been painted white on the side of the farm yard.

 

 
The south wall is now in perfect shape...

 

... and so is the east wall. But woyldn't it have been wiser, a few years ago, to protect the wall, so it wouldn't have been necessary to rebuild it?

 

 


Left of the south gate,  

 

04/04/2014 : Great news : there is at last a project to extend the protected zone of the battlefield !
It's not done yet, there is of course a huge opposition.

http://www.rtl.be/info/votreregion/brabantwallon/1081439/polemique-a-waterloo-la-zone-classee-autour-de-la-butte-du-lion-risque-de-s-etendre

16/03/2014

 

 

 

 

25/01/2014

The current situation : the destoying is going on. Unfortunately, what will come it's place is still unsure !

http://waterloo.blogs.sudinfo.be/archive/2014/01/09/memorial-de-la-bataille-de-waterloo-enerve-kubla-parle-de-gag-surrealiste-v.html

The Cambronne was destroyed on17 January 2014.

 


This revealed an old isncription:

"Toeristen... Hier ziet u in 20 minuten
de bekende film over den
=  slag van Waterloo

Tourists... you may see here in 20"

"Tourists... you may see here in 20 minutes the famous movie on the battle of Waterloo."

If I am right, this was an axtract of a movie made before WW2 by Mussolini's son.

 

And that is how it will look like in future....

 

 

 

 

 

The "Bivouac de l'Empereur" was destroyed on 21 January 2014.

      What is left of it...

 

 

On the contrary, there is better news from Hougoumont. Here are some pictures taken on 25/01/2014.

Unfortunately, an old tree, that was already dead, was brought down by a storm in December 2013. We believe this tree already existed in 1815.

Good news from Quatre-Bras... and Germany  : http://www.bruessel.diplo.de/Vertretung/bruessel/fr/09_20Gedenkveranstaltungen/Seite__Braunschweiger-loewe.html

 

07/08/13 At last ! Works at Hougoumont will start in september !!!! http://www.rtbf.be/video/detail_arret-a-la-ferme-de-hougoumont?id=1844155

07/07/13

The organisation of Waterloo 200 could be a complet flop by the Walloon government
On Mr de Ghellink's blog
In French
http://waterloo.blogs.sudinfo.be/archive/2013/07/06/waterloo-2015-risque-le-fiasco-complet-selon-knack.html
In Dutch
http://static.blogs.sudinfo.be/media/45/179144568.jpg
 

27/04-10/05/13 : Great restoration operation at Waterloo this week-end. We (the ACMN) restored/cleaned 8 more memorials on the Waterloo battlefield. To see the pictures before/after, just follow the link :
http://napoleon-monuments.eu/ACMN/Restaurations2013.htm

 

11/12/12 : the soldier found in June on the battlefield was most probably Hanoverian : read here. In our Magazine, page 50 : ACMN201207-12.pdf

26-27/10/12 : Great restoration operation at Waterloo this week-end. We (the ACMN) restored/cleaned 8 memorials on the Waterloo battlefield, among these 5 at Goumont. To see the pictures before/after, just follow the link :
http://napoleon-monuments.eu/ACMN/Restaurations2012.htm

04/07/2012  Mont-Saint-Jean farm. The pigeon house is finished, apart form the roof.

25/06/2012 : destruction of the Hôtel des Touristes, the Lion hamlet's oldest buiding (1823).

 

 

 

 

As a comparison, a few years later, the same place from the same point of view, after the building of the panorama.

 

This old postcard shows the l'hôtel des Touristes and the l'hôtel du Musée, now theBivouac de l'Empereur, before the panorama was built.

 

11/06/12

The body of a Waterloo soldier was found during works near the Lion mound, on June 5, 2012.

http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20120611_00169173

The skeleton was nearly complete but, contrary to what was said before, there were no buttons. He was mortally wounded by a bullet in his right lung and just had the time to go (or was carried) a few hundred meters to the rear.  The bullet was found in place.  In his pocket, there were some coins, among them a 1811 demi-franc. There was also a spoon, a piece of wood with the initials C.B., a piece of leather, 2 gunflints and two other yet unidentified pieces of metal. If it is confirmed he was a British soldier - which is probable, he might be buried in the Evere memorial, the first common soldier to be buried there. It is a good thing the British ambassador was informed.
http://www.dhnet.be/regions/brabant-wallon/article/398050/une-decouverte-exceptionnelle.html

05/06/2012

Some views taken today


The parking place for the coaches. The parking for the cars will be closer to the freeway. It's approximatively here that the skeleton of a soldier was found. This picture was taken on the day the skeleton was found. Maybe the archeologists are near the cars on the left of the picture.

 

Towards the freeway.

 

 

The restoration works on the pigeon house of the Mont-Saint-Jean farm are advancing.


The Templar's stone is back in place.


The plaque to the British Army Medical Services has been cleaned, but unfortunatley, the bottom left corner has been chipped.

 

25/05/2012


How the memorial will look like.
Movie made by Tempora, the company in charge of the project.
 

10/05/2012

A complete page with a small interview in La Capitale.

09/05/2012

Press conference announcing the project :

Follow these links  :

- http://www.lacapitale.be/411648/article/regions/brabant-wallon/2012-05-09/lion-de-waterloo-30-millions-de-travaux-et-un-nouveau-memorial-video You can see a movie presenting the project of the underground memorial.
- http://www.dhnet.be/regions/brabant-wallon/article/394454/40-millions-pour-le-champ-de-bataille-de-waterloo.html
- Another movie : http://newsme.skynet.be/fr/video/418121/International/Belgique-Waterloo-se-r%C3%A9am%C3%A9nage-pour-faire-vivre-sa-bataille.html

The press release (in French)

 

07/05/2012

Works have started !

Maybe a last look on some buildings. This house dates back to  1823 and was there when the mound was built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The former "restaurant de la Paix" (pictures right).

Works have also started near the motorway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12/04/2012

Dear Friends of (Napoleonic) History,

The 2015 bicentenary is nearing and things are at last moving on the battlefield.  We have the pleasure to announce you some good news, mostly from the Allied side.

On the Allied side of the battlefield
There are some very positive evolutions.

 

- The stele to the 27th Foot (Inniskillings) was straightened up on March 7, 2012 by Mr Lucien Cécille and his team of the Waterloo Committee.  A great job ! Congratulations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The restoration works on Lt-Col Sir Alexander Gordon's column are nearing completion.  These were greatly needed, since the column had not been restored since... 1931 !

 

- The restoration works to the façade and to the pigeon house above the entrance of the Mont-Saint-Jean farm are advancing.  The commemorative plaque to the British Army Medical Services has already been put back in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-  Regional Walloon minister of Tourism, Mr. Paul Furlan, has announced on Twitter and Facebook that the Walloon regional government had accepted a financial arrangement of 27 millions of euros for the redevelopment of the Lion Mound hamlet for the 2015 bicentenary.  It was nearly too late, because the planning permit, given in October 2010, expired on 18 May 2012!  The renovation works should start at the beginning of May 2012.  Without this decision, any redevelopment of the Lion mound site would have been impossible before 2015.  We just hope that most part of this amount will not be spent on a "scenography imagined by Franco Dragone".

- The monument to the Belgians killed on the 18 June 1815 "fighting for the defence of the colours and the honour of the arms" (i.e. on both sides) should also be restored soon, probably when the Gordon column is finished. This was also greatly needed.

- The Lion should also get a face-lift before 2015.

 

From the French side
Here, we have far less reasons to rejoice, but there is some reason to hope.

- Like we announced more than a year ago, the province of Walloon Brabant has bought the Wounded Eagle monument on 28 December 2010 and the Victor Hugo column the next day.  Unfortunately, restorations works haven't started yet, even if they are urgent. We have been unable to hear any news about this matter.

- The Association pour la Conservation des Monuments Napoléoniens (ACMN) will take care of the restoration of the French Eagle monument in the orchard, just like it did in 1986-87, as well as of the repairing of the plate to General Bauduin, as soon as we will get the necessary authorisations.

- Nothing new concerning the eagle stolen from the 8th Line Regiment (Division Durutte) monument, opposite la Haie-Sainte farm.  Nobody seems to care about it... apart from us.  Maybe the only way to get this done is to start a fund in order to get the needed money?

If you want some more information about a monument, don't hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely.

Dominique Timmermans
 

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