It was a weird feeling coming on site this morning. The team was ready to get back to work, but at the same time, we all knew that this would be our last day at Hougoumont. The tasks for the day was to backfill all the trenches, finalise all the drawings and paperwork, and clean up around site.
The last morning brief
The trenches in the killing zone were already filled back up by the digger on Thursday. The trenches in the courtyard and in the potato field had to backfilled by hand as it was impossible to get the digger in there. The teams worked hard and the trenches were backfilled quickly.
Backfilling the trench near the north gate
With the backfilling done, the other task of the day was to clean up the area. The tents were taken down, the office was cleaned up and the water bottles in the garden were all moved inside. After the cleaning was done at Hougoumont, one part of the group went back to the hotel, and another part went to the museum at Mont Saint Jean. The museum showed many objects from the battle, ranging from muskets to surgical kits.
The field hospital of Mont Saint Jean
So, we are done for this year. It is quite a bittersweet feeling. The excavation was successful, we made many new friends, and learned a great deal. On the other hand, it was hard to say goodbye to Hougoumont, which has become our home in the past two weeks, as well as saying goodbye to all of our friends.
Waterloo Uncovered 2017
