Underground Guided Tour Pick axes in the tunnels at the Wellington Quarry. Visitors in groups of up to about 20 people are taken 20 metres down below ground level to the underground quarry and tunnels in a lift. The lift has glass walls and as the lift descends, visitors can see the chalk walls of the lift shaft. Each person wears a headset with their chosen language. The guide takes the group on a tour through the tunnels lasting approximately 25 minutes. The guide stops at set intervals to give a short explanation. In addition, the headsets automatically start at set places to give very clear descriptions for visitors; the commentary describes the difficult time experienced by the French and British soldiers and the local townspeople who lived underground at Arras throughout the war. The commentary gives a history of the tunnels and quarries dug into the chalk under the city, and it details the work carried out by the tunnelers together with the preparations they made for a surprise British attack starting the Battle of Arras 1917. Many hundreds of British infantry assembled in these tunnels before the launch of the Allied offensive at the Battle of Arras on 9th April 1917. The guided visit to the tunnels shows a number of features of special interest which were found in these tunnels when they were discovered and excavated. These include mining trucks and bits of equipment, food containers such as glass bottles, tins and rum jars left in the tunnels. There are numerous example of drawings and “graffiti” on the walls by soldiers. “Exit 10” written on the tunnel wall at the Wellington Quarry, used by British soldiers to leave the tunnels on the morning of 9th April 1917. At the end of the guided tour the group passes Exit Number 10, one of the exits from the tunnels which the troops took to climb up to the Front Line positions and go into the attack at 5.30am (English time) on the morning of 9th April. Many hundreds of soldiers would never return. On leaving the tunnels using the lift the group is invited into a small cinema to watch a short and moving film about the Battle of Arras 1917.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 20:15:26 +0000