The Sutton Mandeville Heritage Trust (SMHT) has recently announced the award from The Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the regimental badge of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, which was cut into the hillside by soldiers in 1916, prior to their deployment in France for the Battle of the Somme.
The Royal Warwickshire badge appeared nearby to that of the ‘Shiny 7th’ badge of the 7th (City of London) Battalion of the London Regiment, but had become overgrown and invisible until initial clearing of the site was undertaken by the SMHT. It was at this stage that Wessex Archaeology was asked to assist in restoring an accurate outline of the badges based on photogrammetry data (supplied by Callen-Lenz) from a UAV that flew over the site. This information was combined with rectified historic photographs and postcards, revealing extensive recutting of the chalk badges years after they were first made. This has resulted in the shape of the badge changing considerably.
Wessex Archaeology has provided the SMHT with an outline of the Royal Warwickshire badge as true to the original cut into the hillside in 1916 as possible. This will then be laid out on site by Wessex to enable the recutting of the badge.