The Adam Park Project

Item Information:

Catalogue Number: 17/Image/001 Source: TAPP Archaeology Surveys Location: No.17 Adam Park Report No: Report No.3 Artifact Type: Terrain Feature Production Date: 0007-04-19 00:00:00 Dimensions of Item: approx 6ft x 3.5ft Copyright with The Adam Park Project

Other Description:

A series of regular depressions were noted in the front garden at No.17 Adam Park. These regularly spaced features run along the contours of the garden on the second tier of the platform in front of the house at the western side of Area 2, a lower couple in the middle of Area 2 and some on the lawn in front of and at the same level as the house. The trenches in Area 2 are set one behind the other and although the westerly trenches are higher up the slope it is worrying that their line of fire is directly over the trenches to their front.

Historic Context:

According to the surviving veteran Sgt Len Baynes, during the ceasefire he passed the order to his men to lay down their weapons out of reach and for them to stay where they were in their dugouts. He also asked them to remove bolts from all the rifles and Brens and hide them. It is easy to imagine that many of them dropped or buried their equipment at the bottom of their trenches alongside all the detritus of battle that had gathered there over the last three days and then covered them with the spoil on the lip of the trench. We can therefore expect to find spent cartridges, unfired ordnance, broken working parts from weapons, used ration packs, used medical supplies and perhaps even the beer bottles brought across from the RAOC Camp Mess. However excavations of one of the depressions on the first tier revealed that it was a flower bed. The flower beds can be clearly seen on the 1950's cine of the front garden. (See Video Library)