Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial

Lille, Flanders & the Somme


This evocative memorial preserves part of the Western Front in the state it was in at fighting's end. The zigzag trench system, which still fills with mud in winter, is clearly visible, as are countless shell craters and the remains of barbed-wire barriers. Canadian students based at the Welcome Centre, which resembles a Newfoundland fisher's house, give free guided tours on the hour (except from mid-December to mid-January). It's 9km north of Albert; follow the signs for 'Memorial Terreneuvien'.

The memorial to the 29th Division, to which the volunteer Royal Newfoundland Regiment belonged, stands at the entrance to the site. On 1 July 1916, this regiment stormed entrenched German positions and was nearly wiped out; until a few years ago, a plaque noted bluntly that 'strategic and tactical miscalculations led to a great slaughter'. A path leads to an orientation table at the top of the Caribou mound, where a bronze caribou statue is surrounded by plants native to Newfoundland.


Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±'s must-see attractions

Nearby Lille, Flanders & the Somme attractions

1. Ulster Memorial Tower

1.64 MILES

The 5000 Ulstermen who perished in the Battle of the Somme are commemorated by this 21m-high Gothic-style tower, an exact replica of Helen’s Tower at…

2. Thiepval Memorial & Museum

2.18 MILES

Its silhouette instantly recognisable from afar, this 45m-high memorial to the missing of the Somme, 7.5km northeast of Albert, is inscribed with the…

3. La Grande Mine

4.47 MILES

Just outside the hamlet of La Boisselle, 4.5km northeast of Albert, this enormous crater looks like the site of a meteor impact. Some 100m across and 30m…

4. Fricourt German Cemetery

5.56 MILES

A stark reminder of the extensive loss of life on all sides of WWI, this cemetery is the burial place of 17,027 fallen German soldiers. Only 5000 of the…

5. Ayette Indian & Chinese Cemetery

7.83 MILES

Towards the end of WWI, tens of thousands of Chinese labourers were recruited by the British government to perform noncombat jobs in Europe, including the…

6. Mémorial Sud-Africain Delville Wood

8.06 MILES

The memorial (1926) and star-shaped museum (1986), a replica of Cape Town's Castle of Good Hope, stand in the middle of Delville Wood, where in July 1916…

7. Australian Corps Memorial Park

12.36 MILES

Adorned with a large bronze ‘Rising Sun’, the insignia of the Australian Imperial Force, this memorial 6.5km northeast of Villers-Bretonneux stands on the…

8. Australian National War Memorial

14.29 MILES

During WWI, 416,809 Australians – 8% of the country's population – volunteered for overseas military service; 46,000 met their deaths on the Western Front…