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Nick Dunne visits a humble roadside shrine near the trenches of Passchendaele built to house an extraordinary image of Christ crucified...To the poet and composer Ivor Gurney, Hill 35 must have seemed an insignificant dent in the landscape. For a Gloucestershire man those slight ridges emerging from the flatlands around the Belgian town of Ypres could not compare with the great rolling landscapes he knew and longed for. Yet, as an experienced soldier, Private Gurney knew the importance of holding even just a few feet of ground that was higher than his enemy. Three weeks previously, on August 22 1917, the Germans had been pushed off Hill 35 in bitter fighting. Now, from the vantage point afforded by those extra 35 metres of height, Gurney could see the battlefield unfold in front of him...
...That night, a French cavalry unit rested at the farm before hurrying on towards the battle. After they had gone, Marant found a beautifully carved figure of the crucified Christ that he was sure one of the soldiers, perhaps the artist himself, had left behind in his haste. Marant was moved by the skill and care taken in creating this holy image. Separated from His Cross, Jesus seemed helpless and particularly vulnerable, suffering again as the world turned to war. He had lost both arms and the remaining stumps were flung upwards in despair, like the limbs of a disfigured soldier...
The carving of Christ crucified is now kept safely in the family’s home, but there is a photograph of it in the wayside shrine. Beside the image there is a statue of Our Lady surrounded by polished shell casings from the war. The British soldiers of 1917 called this area “Passion Dale” and it is as if Mary is again standing at the foot of her son’s Cross, sharing the pain of so many who, like Ivor Gurney, experienced suffering beyond the imagination of most of us walking the battlefields today.
...That night, a French cavalry unit rested at the farm before hurrying on towards the battle. After they had gone, Marant found a beautifully carved figure of the crucified Christ that he was sure one of the soldiers, perhaps the artist himself, had left behind in his haste. Marant was moved by the skill and care taken in creating this holy image. Separated from His Cross, Jesus seemed helpless and particularly vulnerable, suffering again as the world turned to war. He had lost both arms and the remaining stumps were flung upwards in despair, like the limbs of a disfigured soldier...
The carving of Christ crucified is now kept safely in the family’s home, but there is a photograph of it in the wayside shrine. Beside the image there is a statue of Our Lady surrounded by polished shell casings from the war. The British soldiers of 1917 called this area “Passion Dale” and it is as if Mary is again standing at the foot of her son’s Cross, sharing the pain of so many who, like Ivor Gurney, experienced suffering beyond the imagination of most of us walking the battlefields today.
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