Friday 24th January 2014
The Wiltshire Times today, in its Nostalgia Features page, has a piece about the project to restore the First World War Dog’s Grave on Copheap, Warminster.
Friday 17th January 2014
Danny Howell writes ~
Most people who read this blog will know that two months ago I instigated a project to find and restore a dog’s grave on Copheap, Warminster. The grave was for many years a well-known landmark for local people, ever since some soldiers during the First World War constructed it after one of them accidentally shot the dog.
John Featherby, who has recently taken up residence in Warminster, has contacted me with a story concerning his mother and the dog’s grave and it is a story that has a little sadness attached to it.
John writes ~
My mother’s maiden name was Catherine Baker. She was always known as Kitty. She was born in Scotland in 1919 and was sent to a convent school in Warminster while her father was working for Reuters away in St. Helena sometime in the 1930s. It was only just before she died six years ago my mother told me she had been in school in Warminster before the Second World War. I have no further information but I believe the school might have been St. Monica’s School at Vicarage Street. She told me of this only in 2006, by which time she had been widowed (twice) and moved from Kent to live in Andover, where I was working.
After I retired I moved in with her, to look after her because she had suffered a heart attack and needed help. I used to take her out for day trips in the car, asking her to tell me where she wanted to go. One day she told me about her schooldays in Warminster. She had, as far as far as I can recall, never mentioned it before. She could remember very little about Warminster but said she could never forget being taken with the other girls in a charabanc on to the downs above the town to visit the grave of a dog. This grave had become a local landmark and many people came to lay flowers there, but she could not remember the story behind it.
She never came back to the town until I brought her here a few days before she died. She had a lovely day here but we never found the grave. She was so disappointed not to identify the site but asked me to find out for her. I failed to find anything out although I did find a grave at Westdown Camp which clearly was not what she did remember. She died soon after visiting in Warminster, in January 2008.
I have recently moved to Warminster and was interested to read the article about your attempt to locate and restore the grave on Copheap. After reading the article I am convinced that the grave at Copheap is where my mother went as a child to lay flowers, just as you did.
You have my permission to pass on my mother’s story to your readers and supporters. I hope it jogs a few memories of local people. Perhaps you can even fill in a few gaps in my mother’s story. I don’t even have any dates for the time she was at school here but having just moved here myself I hope to have more time now to ferret out more information. She said she was very happy here.
I hope this information is helpful to someone who might remember those times. I would like to find out more about this myself and wonder if I can be of any help to you? I am certain that my mother would be delighted to know the grave might soon be recovered and restored. Do let me know if I can contribute in some way to your efforts, for example, sharing the cost of the new cross you propose – in memory of my mother.
Best wishes and good luck, John Featherby.
Danny Howell responds ~
Thank you John for letting us know about your mother’s search to find the dog’s grave again. I must admit I shed a little tear reading it. What a pity your mother passed away when she did before we put this project in motion. Thank you for offering to contribute towards the cross. It is very kind of you and I think your offer of doing so in memory of your mother is a lovely idea. I hope your mother’s story will prompt others not only to relate their memories about the dog’s grave on Copheap but also help you fill those gaps in your mother’s story. I believe St. Monica’s School used to publish a year book with items contributed by the pupils as well as reports of school events and sports. Maybe we can trace one which mentions your mother? I hope so.
Saturday 11th January 2014
Danny Howell writes ~
Thought you might appreciate an update on the “Vandals” story regarding the Lych Gate at Copheap, Warminster. The Town Clerk Heather Abernethie and I exchanged emails yesterday and “yes, we are still talking to one another.” In fact, we spoke at the Civic Trust meeting held yesterday evening at Warminster Civic Centre.
It seems the Police still believe “there was some vandalism at the Lych Gate at Christmas”. Maybe they are saying that to ‘save face’ but we all know there wasn’t any vandalism. The damage to the Lych Gate was evident back last year and my photographs taken in November 2013 show this to be true. The sorry state of the Lych Gate is due to rotting timber and missing roof tiles, mainly due to weathering and neglect. What has been happening recently is when I and other community-spirited people like me visit Copheap (and I visited Copheap several times over the Christmas and New Year period walking my dog and checking the area where the First World War dog’s grave is (initial moves towards the Copheap dog’s grave restoration project) we pick up the Lych Gate pillars off the ground and put them back in situ, only for them to soon fall out again until the next time we visit. Sometimes, children mess around with the fallen pillars, but it’s not vandalism per se, and sometimes, adults pick up the pillars off the Lych Gate floor and put them to one side again, or even place them to the back of the Lych, in an effort to stop others from tripping over them. Sometimes the pillars just fall out of their positions and end up on the ground behind the base walls of the Lych. That’s all.
I have also heard from the Mayor of Warminster, Paul Batchelor. I guess he may be embarrassed or annoyed that he has found himself part of the story in the Warminster Journal (although he hasn’t said that to me), but he has emailed me to say he wishes he had known about my reporting the sorry state of the Lych back in November before the Journal asked him for a quote and a photograph. I am told that the story in the Warminster Journal was initiated by the Police and not the Town Council. Unfortunately there is now some flak doing the rounds, mainly aimed at the Town Council. I only hope this publicity, bad as it is, will speed up efforts to get the Lych Gate repaired and in a condition befitting the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives in two World Wars. We owe it to them.
I would like to publicly thank everyone who has emailed me about this. I appreciate your interest and I am inspired by your support. Several of you have suggested we should raise the money for the repairs ourselves and go do the work ourselves if the Town Council or Wiltshire Council can’t carry out our wishes. I don’t think we need to do that. The Town Clerk Heather Abernethie assures me she is on the case and I have every faith the work will be carried out in due course, hopefully sooner rather than later! You can, of course, always contact the Town Council, by email: admin@warminster-tc.gov.uk
Thursday 9th January 2014
Danny Howell writes ~
The back page of today’s Warminster Journal features a story about an apparent attack by vandals on the Lych Gate at Copheap. Accompanying the story is a photograph of the Mayor of Warminster, Town Councillor Paul Batchelor, pointing out that the supporting pillars of the Lych Gate are missing. The article suggests that “the damage occurred sometime between Tuesday 31st December and Thursday 2nd January (2014].” PCSO Lorraine Rice of Wiltshire Police wants anyone with information to contact her.
Readers of this website will know that this damage did not occur over the Christmas and New Year period. If the Clerk of Warminster Town Council looks through her emails she will also know that this is not the case. Why?
Because I featured a story, complete with photos, about the sorry state of the Lych Gate, with its missing pillars and holes, on Wednesday 20th November 2013. This damage may have been partly due to vandals in previous years but the missing pillars, roof tiles, holes, etc., are mostly due to neglect. They are rotten and have been getting worse as the winter days with the continued wet weather have progressed. You can see my post of Wednesday 20th November 2013, with regard the damage, on my blog.
Further to posting my story I emailed the Town Clerk of Warminster Town Council about the Lych Gate damage, also on Wednesday 20th November 2013, again with photographs showing the damage. For the record, here’s a copy of the words of my email:
“Wednesday 20th November 2013.
To:
The Town Clerk, Warminster Town Council,
Warminster Civic Centre,
Sambourne Road, Warminster, BA12 8LB.
Dear Heather Abernethie,
Would you be so kind as to bring to the attention of the members of Warminster Town Council the sorry state of the Lych at the top of the Path Of Remembrance at the entrance to Copheap.
Roof tiles are missing from both sides, and the upright wooden pillars that support the roof are either rotten or missing. Some of the pillars are thrown to the ground at the sides of the Lych.
It goes without saying that if this disrepair is not attended to soon, the Lych will deteriorate even more, particularly with the winter weather approaching.
Bearing in mind that next year will be the 100th Anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, and that commemorations will be taking place in Warminster, perhaps with locals and tourists visiting Copheap (which is a memorial to the Warminster fallen of both World Wars), I’m sure all our Town Councillors, like myself, would like to see the Lych in good repair and in a safe condition.
Yours sincerely, Danny Howell.
P.S. I have attached some photographs, taken last week, showing the roof with its missing tiles, and the condition of the pillars.”
–
Unfortunately, I did not get an email reply from the Town Clerk about this matter. I know that Chris Trimby, Station Officer at Warminster Fire Station, Wiltshire Fire And Rescue, also made known the damage and neglect of the Lych Gate, to the Town Council, back in November. Chris regularly walks his dog on Copheap. Chris and I had both hoped for action to be taken on the matter before the winter came.
Coincidentally, Chris emailed this very morning (a few hours before today’s Warminster Journal was available for sale), asking me if I had heard anymore about the Lych Gate damage we had reported. He informed me he had heard no more.
I did mention this matter to the Town Clerk, Heather Abernethie, when I saw at the Christmas Fayre at the Civic Centre on Saturday 28th November 2013. She then verbally acknowledged receipt of my email and told me the repair of the Lych Gate was a matter for Wiltshire Council and that she had passed the message on.
I must admit I am rather annoyed that the matter was not put on a Council meeting agenda for discussion by our Town Councillors. We rely on our elected representatives to listen to what people are saying and to act where necessary in carrying out the wishes of local people. In this case, this has not happened.
I hope that PCSO Lorraine Rice will not waste her time looking for so-called vandals who ventured to Copheap at Christmas and New Year. I hope the Warminster Journal will correct their story. But above all, I hope Wiltshire Council or Warminster Town Council (whoever is responsible) will REPAIR THE LYCH GATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
As I said before, the state of the Lych Gate is a shameful disrespect to the men and women of Warminster who courageously served or gave their lives in two World Wars. Copheap and the Lych Gate and the Path Of Remembrance are a memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Thursday 26th December 2013
Warminster Town Council have published the following press release ~
As part of the commemorations for the First World War being planned for 2014, local historian Danny Howell has approached the Town Council asking for their help in uncovering the dog grave on Copheap. In 1917 a soldier serving in the Army Service Corps in Warminster accidentally shot a dog on Copheap, and was so distressed that he and his colleagues buried the dog, covering the grave with a small area of concrete and erecting an iron cross on it. This grave then became a landmark for following generations of Warminster people, and Danny remembers visiting it with his parents as a young boy, laying posies of wild flowers at the base of the cross.
In the mid-1980s the cross was vandalised, buckling it downwards, and since then the grave has become overgrown with soil and brambles. Fallen trees are left lying because Copheap is now a wildlife habitat, and the grave is no longer visible. Danny would like to locate the grave using a metal detector, and uncover and renovate the concrete slab. He also wishes to ask a local blacksmith to make a new cross for the grave.
Informal discussions with the Town Council indicate that the Councillors are happy to support Danny’s initiative, which will be a fitting project as part of the WWI commemorations beginning next year. The Council would like to ask any members of the public who would like to help in the search to contact them, and they will liaise with Danny. Also, if anyone has any photographs of the grave, or can remember visiting it, could you please let us know so that we can incorporate these into the exhibition in August 2014. Please contact us on 01985 214847 or via the website www.warminster.uk.com, if you can help in any way.
Thursday 26th December 2013
BBC News Online have published an article about the project to restore the grave of a dog accidentally shot by an AOC soldier in 1917 on Copheap, Warminster. Click here.
The BBC says ~
A lost memorial to a dog accidentally shot by a soldier during World War One, could be reinstated in Wiltshire. An iron cross, marking the dog’s grave, was erected by a soldier from the Army Service Corps in Warminster in 1917. The soldier, according to local historian Danny Howell, was so upset about what he had done he had wanted to give the animal a “fitting memorial”.
The grave is no longer visible but to mark the war’s centenary Mr Howell wants to find and reinstate it. During WW1, two camps were set up in Warminster for newly enrolled troops training on nearby Salisbury Plain. The Army Ordnance Corp (AOC) was one of the units posted there and it was an AOC soldier, according to Mr Howell, who accidentally shot the dog. “He was on patrol on Copheap in 1917 and probably heard a rustle and fired without thinking,” said Mr Howell. “But he was so upset, he decided to give the dog a proper memorial.” Buried where it had been shot on Copheap, the animal’s grave was marked with a small area of concrete and an iron cross.
But in the mid 1980s the cross was vandalised by youths and over the next decade the memorial was lost under dense undergrowth. “The last time I saw the grave in something of its original glory was in the early 1980s,” said Mr Howell. “Since then soil has slipped down the slope of the hill and covered the concrete slab.”But I can remember roughly where the grave is, so we won’t need to scour the whole hill looking for the exact spot.” With the use of a metal detector, to locate what is left of the iron cross, Mr Howell is hoping to resurrect the landmark in time for next year’s 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. “The loss of a dog’s life during the war may seem irrelevant to some and compared with the loss of millions of people’s lives in the war it is,” he said. “But we are a nation and town of dog lovers and I think that this project remembers the ‘little people’ whose lives were cut short.”
Copheap is the responsibility of Warminster Town Council. It was bought for the town in 1947 and the whole area was dedicated as a war memorial three years later. Heather Abernethie, from the town council, said members had been “intrigued by the request” to reinstate the dog’s grave. “I’d never, ever heard of it [the memorial] before so we need to find some provenance,” she said. “But I am intrigued to find out more and in principal everybody is up for it and I am sure it will get supported.”
Tuesday 24th December 2013
From The Western Daily Press ~
A historian in a Wiltshire town is asking for help to solve the mystery of a long-lost grave for a dog accidentally shot by a soldier during the First World War. As part of the commemorations for the centenary of the Great War next year in Warminster, Danny Howell has asked the town council for help to find the grave, which was a landmark for generations of residents of the town for years after the dog’s shooting in 1917.
Wednesday 20th November 2013
Danny Howell writes ~
I think the time is right for me to set the ball rolling for a project I have been considering for some while now.
In 1917, a soldier serving in the Army Service Corps at Warminster, accidentally shot a dog on Copheap. The story goes he was so upset about what he had done he and some of his colleagues decided to give the dog a fitting memorial. The dog was buried on Copheap and its grave covered with a small area of concrete, to which was erected a little cross of iron. The grave thus became a landmark for future generations of Warminster people.
I can remember the grave very well from my early childhood onwards. Back in my younger days it was customary for families to go out for walks on Sunday afternoons to regular places such as “Up the Leg and down The Stocking” (the footpath connecting Henford Marsh with Five Ash Lane; up Arn Hill Wood, Battlesbury, and, of course, Copheap. Whenever we went to Copheap we would always run ahead of mum and dad to see “the dog’s grave.” If we could we would pick some wood violets or other flowers and leave a little posy at the base of the cross of iron. When we were tiny tots we would say a prayer for the dog. How innocent our lives were? They were happy days.
The last time I saw the grave in something of its original glory was in the early 1980s. But in the mid-1980s some yobboes bent over the cross, buckling it downwards. When I last wrote about the dog’s grave, in November 1988, I noted that the grave was overgrown with brambles. Since then soil has slipped down the slope of the hill and covered the concrete slab. Today, Copheap is supposedly a wildlife habitat and fallen trees have been left, while younger beeches have flourished. The grave is sadly no longer visible.
A scene on Copheap, just before the First World War.
What I would very much like to do is to locate the grave and clear the soil away from over the concrete slab. I hope that it can be espied again with the use of a metal detector locating what’s left of the iron cross. I do have a mate with a metal detector who I’m sure will be prepared to carry out this task. Of course, this will have to be with the consent and permission of Warminster Town Council who are responsible for Copheap. The old Warminster Urban District Council (the forerunner of the Town Council) purchased Copheap in 1947, specifically so that it could remain a public recreational area in memory of the Warminster fallen of the two World Wars. This was the idea of the Warminster schoolteacher and long-serving Town Councillor Harold Dewey.
After locating the grave, I would like to propose that the concrete slab could be put in order and that we ask a local blacksmith to make a new cross. Again this would need the permission of Warminster Town Council, but I don’t really see how they could say no if the idea has public appeal. And then it would be nice to have a little plaque at the grave, telling the story of the dog. If this was done, it could become a landmark again, and a talking point once more for people who stroll or walk their dogs on Copheap. I would hope too that the restoration of the grave would instill a sense of pride too.
The work could be done voluntarily. When I mentioned this, in passing to Chris Trimby, the Station Officer at Warminster Fire Station, when I met him walking his dog on Copheap, last Friday, he told me he would like to volunteer to help. I’m sure others will too. I mentioned this idea about a month ago to Councillor Steve Dancey, a member of the World War One Commemorations Working Group for Warminster. I can’t say he seemed very enthusiastic about it and I’ve since heard he has maybe resigned from that Working Group. But where there’s a will there’s a way.
I do think the time is right, with the Commemorations for the First World War being planned now, and I would like to think that my idea for restoring the dog’s grave is appropriate and in keeping. I shall be contacting the Town Council in the next few days about this and I will be pleased to hear what any readers of dannyhowell.net think. If you would like to lend your support or would like to help in a practical way, if the Town Council gives us the go-ahead, I would like to hear from you. I can be contacted by email: dannyhowellnet@gmail.com
Thursday 21st November 2013
Dog’s Grave Restoration Update
Less than 24 hours since I made the post above and this idea to restore the dog’s grave on Copheap seems to have hit the right note already, with several people emailing me to say they applaud the project.
Simon Burn, the Editor of Warminster Web, has pledged £50 towards any costs involved. Thank you Simon, that’s very generous of you. Simon tells me he’s one of the many dog lovers out there in Warminster and the big world wide web. All pledges are welcome but I envisage that with voluntary help we can probably restore this canine landmark from the First World War years in Warminster for next to nothing – volunteer labour from a little gang of people to clear the site will mean most of the work is done. But we may have to repair the slab, and pay a blacksmith to make a new cross, plus the cost of providing a little plaque might be a few more quid too. Maybe, though, one of our local building firms will donate the materials for restoring the concrete slab and hopefully one of the town’s blacksmith’s will produce a new cross gratis, just to be part of making history again? So, all pledges are welcome, but we might not need to spend any money at all – which would be great. I do currently have about £100 in my own fundraising charity pot too, so I think we shall have enough to cover the cost of a little plaque too.
And to end this update, I should have said, in the post above, that I can remember roughly where the grave is on Copheap, it’s just that one beech tree looks very much like another, so there’ll be no need to scour the whole hill looking for the grave – just a small section to the left of the path. It’s just the fact that the area has over the last few years returned to its natural woodland state. Tim Hancock, of Church Street Mews, Warminster, has offered his metal detecting skills, so . . . fingers crossed, we should be able to soon locate the exact spot. Thank you Tim and Clare for offering to help in this way.
Now I know I’ve got public support for restoring this unusual landmark on Copheap I will contact the Town Clerk to see if the Town Council are willing to let us go ahead with this. I’ll post more updates about this project as we go along. ~ Danny Howell.
Warminster War Memorial Committee, 1960:
Chairman: Mr. H.N. Dewey, J.P.
Hon. Treasurer: Mr. E.R. Pound, Lloyds Bank, Warminster.
Hon. Secretary: Mr. T. Davies, J.P., The Lindens, Heytesbury.
Formed in 1947 for the purpose of providing a permanent memorial to Warminster men who made the supreme sacrifice in the form of preserving for the benefit of the town the amenities and the beauty of Copheap.
A view from Arn Hill, Warminster,
to the northern side of Copheap.
The photograph was taken circa 1907.
