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High on the moor in the heart of the Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland are some of Britain鈥檚 best preserved World War One trenches.

They include the classic layout with front, support and reserve lines as well as communication trenches.

It鈥檚 not known who dug them but an archaeological dig in 2005 found fragments from shells which suggest the trenches may have been dug as a target for trainee artillerymen and as an exercise in trench design and construction.

Hundreds of trenches were dug in Britain by some of the million men who volunteered in 1914, as a way of preparing them for warfare. It was said there were more trenches in Britain than at the Western Front.

The ordinary men who dug the trenches at Otterburn in a bleak and beautiful spot left behind something which remains, in their own way, a memorial to all those who lost their lives in the conflict.

The Otterburn and adjacent Redesdale ranges have been in continual military use since 1911. Access to the trenches is strictly only with Ministry of Defence (MoD) permission.

Location: Otterburn, Northumberland NE19 1JT
Aerial view of Otterburn Trenches courtesy of Tim Gates

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