Shirley Arabin Mount Maunganui, New Zealand . ----- Original Message ----- From: GPG Robinson To: david.j.hedges ; [email protected] Cc: Ken Francis ; Shirley Arabin Sent: Saturday, 9 August 2003 11:57 Subject: Re: Huguenots at Vimy To add to David Hedges response. There are many hundreds of souterraines in northern France mostly resulting from quarrying of firm chalk for building. Many date back to medieval times or earlier and many were indeed used for refuge. However as David says all the tunnels at Vimy are of Great War origin although two of the subways were linked into souterraines. There are several in Neuville St Vaast, La Targette, and Maison Blanche to name but some from which the Germans were ejected by the French in 1915. As mentioned by David there are numerous souterraines in the environs of Arras that were connected up in 1916 and early 1917 to form extensive underground barracks, HQ and storage facilities. Much of the work on connecting these and making them habitable was by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company. If memory serves me correctly the main Huguenot centre was the Vendee. It is quite possible that the geology there is sandstone and that there were caverns cut out for storage etc. But certainly no sandstone at or near Vimy. There is an awful lot of myth about the tunnels in the Vimy area. regards Phillip Robinson ----- Original Message ----- From: david.j.hedges To: [email protected] Cc: Phillip Robinson ; Puxley, Al ; Ken Francis ; Shirley Arabin Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 12:02 PM Subject: Huguenots at Vimy Luc Shirley Arabin in New Zealand passed me your email re the Vimy tunnels ******* you wrote: Searching in a guide book on the north of France , I found out that the sandstone tunnels at the Vimy battlefield were used by Huguenots hiding in 16th and 17th centuries. Luc *********** There are mediaeval caves under Arras near Vimy but these are all in chalk. There is no sandstone in the Vimy area. The WW1 tunnels at Vimy are all constructed in WW1 and are not mediaeval, although it is likely that there are mediaeval caves in Vimy village itself, (they would be typically near the church), that I am unaware of. However your comment sparked a memory because in a mediaeval cave under Arras that was turned into a military hospital in WW1 there is a wall carving a local historian knowledgeable on the Huguenots commented might be their work. I attach a very poor photo. Hope you can see the chalice to the top of the picture. Regards David Hedges UK