Wellington Quarry (Carrière Wellington)

Now open as a visitor centre, you can go underground on a guided tour to see where so many soldiers lived before they died in the disastrous Battle of Arras of 1917. The town of Arras in northern France is built on a large chalk plateau, which had been mined extensively during the Middle Ages for building stone.

Underground sleeping quarters at Arras. The quarries at Arras turned out to be a major asset during preparations for the Battle of Arras, scheduled for 9th April 1917. Tunnelling work undertaken by specialist engineers from New Zealand allowed the British troops to pop up just metres in front of the German lines.

The Boves, an exploration beneath the cobblestones of Arras. The Boves of Arras: boves is an Old French term to describe an underground cave created by quarrying, a strange name for a unique walk deep beneath the city. Set off on a discovery of these former chalk quarries, a true subterranean labyrinth.

From November 1916 to March 1917, 500 tunnellers from across the world in New Zealand developed and interconnected a vast network of underground galleries in the south-east of Arras. The objective was clear: to move as close as possible to the enemy lines and thus exploit the advantage of surprise.