Gazetteer of the Western Front: Norrent-Fontes (then and now)

I found this wonderful little sketch map in the war diary of 22nd Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery.(National Archives WO95/1643. Crown Copyright). It shows where the officers and men were billeted in the rear area village of Fontes on 19 October 1915. Knowing that this area was relatively undeveloped since 1918, I thought I would try to see whether any of the buildings and locations still exist today.

The brigade consisted of numbers 104, 105 and 106 Batteries and the Brigade Ammunition Column. The locations of all, as well as brigade headquarters, are shown.

My highlights. Fontes lies just off the main road between Aire-sur-la-Lys and Lillers.

A present-day map (Geoportail). I have highlighted Fontes, which was a separate village at the time but is now effectively merged with Norrent to form Norrent-Fontes.

Same source, zoomed in for greater detail. I have highlighted a network of roads. From above, the have a characteristic shape that can be matched to the sketch map above. The officers’ billet of 104 Battery RFA can be seen on Rue de L’Abre Uvoir, for example.

Using Google Maps, this barn is situated exactly where the officer’s billet of 104 Battery was said to be. I am not sure that it is of the right age, but it certainly appears possible. The battery itself (presumably the men were accommodated in tents and bivouac) was in a field behind the wall on the left.

South of 104 Battery, brigade headquarters was shown in a rectangular space on Rue du Moulin. The rectangle is this impressive farm complex at number 12. It is now called La Ferme Beugin. I could not identify the separate HQ office on Rue des Cressoniers, which seems to be mostly modern building.

Further along Rue du Moulin, 106 Battery was billeted in these houses and field.

Not much left of where the Brigade Ammunition Column had pulled in, alongside the main road.

Not much to see where 105 Battery had been on Rue Jules Noël, except for this field. A few modern houses nearby.

Further back along the same road in the direction of the main road, this is on the spot shown as the officers billet for 105 Battery, although again I can’t vouch for the antiquity of this barn.

A pre-war image of Rue des Cressonnières (watercress beds) suggests that the area has not changed very much at all.

Links

XXII Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery

7th Division

Other places in my Gazetteer of the Western Front