Back to the Bustard

Monday 2nd June and we were joined on Salisbury Plain by a team of Bristol University students, ably led by Nick Saunders. They have joined us to spend a week digging on the site of the Anzac 3rd Division training trenches at The Bustrad on Salisbury Plain. The site takes it's name from the large bird and from the nearby pub named after it.

In 1916 the Australian soldiers took over, adapted amd trained in a series of trenches dug on Salisbury Plain to instruct and inform soldiers in the practice of trench diggin, maintenance, routine and life. The Australians are known to have spent days and nights in the trenches familiarising themselves with trench life. They are known to have been involved in exercises with live fire and the blowing of a small mine, which they seem then to have "captured" and fortified, just as they were to do at Ultimo crater, during the Battle of Messines.

The dig is designed to do a number of things. It will see what can be discerned in the archaeological record of the activities of these and other soldiers. The dig will also assess the survivial and condition of the remains. Information gained here will add to the picture of preparation for War in 1916/17.

Richard and Martin led an NML team here in 2005 but since then there has been neither opportunity nor resources to return so the help given by Bristol is invaluable.

Plugstreet images by Peter Chasseaud

Here are a couple of images I made while working at St Yvon, Ploegsteert, while on the dig. Does anyone have a photo of me at work drawing, which I can post on my blog? In addition to these two images, I produced, as part of my phenomenology/visibility/intervisibility project several panorama drawings, including one in three sections from the north-east rim of Ultimo Crater looking east towards Warneton, and some of the views from Hull's Burnt Farm and St Yvon looking towards Factory Farm, Ultra Trench and Ultimo Trench.

Another part of my work was locating the medieval moat of the old farm relative to the present crater and the pattern of roads, old property boundaries, drainage ditches, etc. Aerial photos from 1915 to 1918 were hugely useful here, and I found that the medieval and early modern boundaries and ditches are still significant features of the landscape today. These, of course, are fundamental for geo-referencing.

I'm also doing some writing (including poems), which I will post on my blog (http://peterchasseaud.blogspot.com/). You can also see my blog by googling 'peter chasseaud artist'.

The image below is Pillars of Fire, and shows the Trench 122 mines being blown on 7 June 1917 under Ultimo Trench (left) and Ultra Trench (Factory Farm, right). The view is from the British front line at Trench 123, opposite Ultimo. [Willow charcoal and pastel on paper. Copyright Peter Chasseaud 2007].




The image below is Ancient Willow, Factory Farm. [Willow charcoal on paper. Copyright Peter Chasseaud 2007].



I'll post some more images, and some writing, in a few days' time. Images from my Ypres Willows project (2007) and my May 2007 exhibition (the book to accompany this include some of Ultimo and Factory Farm) can be seen on my blog.