The Cottage at La Belle Alliance

Robert Hills (1769–1844) was a founder member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours.  He visited the battlefield on 22 July 1815, and the following year produced "Sketches in Flanders and Holland: with some account of a tour through parts of those countries, shortly after the battle of Waterloo; in a series of letters to a friend" He described the book as ‘a faithful picture of the Low Countries, immediately subsequent to a most eventful period of their history’. 

The fact that Hills visited the battlefield so soon after the 18th June and the fact that he drew with such careful attention to detail means that his pictures are particularly useful.  Moreover, not only was a fine artist, he also supported his illustrations with some very careful descriptions that are especially useful to anyone studying the battle.

I have seen his images before but through the kind lead of 'Prince of Essling' on TMP I have been introduced to the supporting text.

This text has allowed me to understand the location of a small cottage. My father and I work on the buildings together - I do the research and he creates the models.  When we first created La Belle Alliance and the building to its southwest, Trimotion, we could see an indistinct building at right angles to Trimotion and immediately to its front.  These pictures show the arrangement:

Based on this slight evidence, we decided that this was a small barn and depicted it thus:

By reading the Robert Hills text alongside his pictures it is now clear to me that the cottage he describes is in the same location as our attempt at a barn.

Given this information, we will need to build a new model which takes account of this very interesting and previously misunderstood information.

The Chateau of Frischermont

Château Frischermont, or Fichermont, was demolished in 1965. Because it was off the Siborne model and was destroyed, there is very little evidence to go on.  This post attempts to piece together the available clues.

In 1705 the Château was for a time the headquarters of the Duke of Marlborough. While at Frischermont Marlborough wrote that the escarpment of Mont-Saint-Jean would be a good place to defend Brussels if it was attacked from the south. 

 

At the time of Waterloo it belonged to Monsieur Beaulieu, and was garrisoned by troops of the 28th Regiment, Orange-Nassau (Regiment Oranje-Nassau No. 28) under the command of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar.

 

It was here at 10:30 that as a French patrol drove back Dutch pickets the first fighting of the day took place. Frischermont sat southeast of la Haye Farm and Papelotte.  

This aerial photograph from the late 60s was taken after the chateau was demolished.  It shows the walled garden and, if you look very carefully, the well just to its right.

Colourised version

Once La Haye Farm is complete, Frischermont will be next.

I'm inclined to discount the evidence of this picture which adds a house on the left.  I feel this is an addition to a previous picture which already adds something that could not be seen (the Lion's Mound) from this location. 

Maison Lacoste

 I spent a couple of days of leave making the sections that link Rossomme to la Belle Alliance.  They are not yet complete but give a sense of the distances involved.  This is the high section of the battlefield and the ground does not alter that much.  

Decoster's farm (sometimes known as Maison Lacoste) links the two.  Decoster was the unfortunate farmer who acted as Napoleon's unwilling guide on the day of Waterloo.  he may have resented the role at the time but he later made a career as a tour guide.

Decoster's farm on the Siborne model, courtesy of the National Army Museum

With a hayrick which I'd quite like to add

This shows the barn with its long rear sloped roof

This building on Google earth is in a similar place, but the angle of the roof is very different

La Haye Farm

La Haye Farm and the Chateau of Frischermont lay at the eastern end of the battlefield, just beyond Papelotte (already complete).

 The difficulty with modelling these farms  is that neither is on the Siborne model and both were either partially (La Haye) or completely (Frischermont) destroyed, leaving behind only some evidence of what they looked like.

This entry details the modelling of La Haye Farm; a subsequent post will look at Frischermont. This Google Earth shot (orientated from the south) shows Papelotte and la Haye in relation to each other from the air:

 

Some of what we see now at La Haye Farm is modern, such as the large grey roofed barn to the East.

 

In close up, La Haye Farm consisted of a barn adjacent to the farm lane (shown in blue); this barn lies at an oblique angle to the other farm buildings which were arrayed in an open square.

This aerial photograph shows the gable end of the obliquely positioned barn:

Siborne’s plan (orientated south to north) of the battlefield shows La Haye Farm as follows:

 

The oblique barn can be clearly seen.

 A different map by Craan shows the same oblique barn with the rest of the farm as an open sided courtyard.  

  

La Haye Farm was burnt in the early 20th century before being rebuilt.  This photo looking from East to West shows the farm after the fire:

 

Here are some Google earth street view shots of the obliquely positioned barn:

This detail shows buttresses on the oblique barn, looking north

The shed with the grey roof to the right of the barn wasn't there in 1815

The oblique barn looking south.  As mentioned, the shed in the foreground wasn't there in 1815.

The farmhouse

The story of the battle on the eastern flank involved  four strong-points: from east to west, the Château of Frischermont, the village of Smohain and the two farms of La Haye (not to be confused with La Haye Sainte in the centre of the field) and Papelotte. 

The Smohain brook ran through the village and there were two main areas of woodland – around Papelotte and Frischermont. To the north  the ground rose up to the ridge, and along this ridge was a road. Tracks crossed this road and led down to Papelotte, La Haye and Smohain. 

To the south of the position the ground rose less steeply so that all the strong points apart from Frischermont were in a valley, along which ran another road. 

Here are some early shots of the farm as constructed by my father:

The farmhouse