Wellington Quarry, Arras, France - SpottingHistory.com

20 metres below the pavements of Arras is the Wellington Quarry, a site immersed in memory and emotion. In November 1916, the British started preparing for the 1917 spring offensive. Their stroke of genius: to have the New Zealand tunnellers connect up the town’s chalk extraction tunnels to create a real network of underground barracks large enough to accommodate up to 24,000 soldiers. After a 20-metre descent in a glass-fronted lift, the audio guided and escorted visit plunges the visitor into the site’s atmosphere. A strategic location as well as a living space, the Quarry, named Wellington by the New Zealand sappers, preserves the memory of those thousands of soldiers quartered underground just a few metres from the front, before launching themselves onto the field of battle on 9th April 1917 at 5.30 in the morning, in a surprise attack on the German positions. Through the projection of a film, coming to the surface in the soldiers’ footsteps bring the shock of battle to life.

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User Reviews

andrea bitti (5 months ago)
It is really nice the guided tour, but there isn't much to see

Gábor Orosz (2 years ago)
Our guide, Pierre was beyond fantastic, he answered every single question with a super interesting side story with perfect English. Great experience!! strongly recommend!!

william c (2 years ago)
Very interesting and are tour guide (matheous I think his name was) was really nice.

Louis Pampin (2 years ago)
Amazing tour through the tunnels used by the allies to retake the town. Guided tour in French, English and German available.

Jack Howard (2 years ago)
It was so much fun for me to learn about the atmosphere of the quarries and mines that soldiers hid in during WW1. Everything worked fine, the atmosphere was very matching, and the whole tour was very informative.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Andrea Schaffer

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