Horror of war in the trenches recalled at Shropshire exhibition

Today the tourist attraction behind the Trenches through the Ages exhibition said it has been an overwhelming success.

The trenches have been created at the Park Hall Countryside Experience, near Oswestry, the site of one of the largest training camps in the country which was built in 1915.

Huge numbers of soldiers, including poet Wilfred Owen, spent time at the camp on their way to the front.

Funding for the project, which includes replica trench systems from World War Two and modern conflicts, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, was given by Shropshire Council.

Mark Hignett, of Oswestry Museum, who has helped to lead the project, said: "We have tried to include everything you could have come across in the trenches. The main trench will is 150 feet long and the idea is to show what we have learned from 100 years of trench warfare.

"People can explore front-line trenches, with machine gun posts, to the basic shelters men used to cut into banks."

Richard Powell, a director at Park Hall, said he hoped the attraction would appeal not only to families and visitors during the summer holiday but also to school later in the year.

"There are lots of children who visit Park Hall anyway, so it will be a good opportunity for them to learn about the war," he said.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Major Wynne Corrie moved from his home at Park Hall into Shrewsbury, and handed over the hall to the military as its headquarters.

Initially 14,000 troops were stationed there, which had risen to 21,000 troops within a fortnight.

As well as training on the Park Hall site the soldiers also training on the Old Oswestry iron age hill fort close by. Its ancient ramparts proved perfect training grounds for the troops. Park Hall remained a military camp from then on, playing another major role in the Second World War and only finally closing down in the 1970s.

Park Hall Countryside Experience is the latest attraction to create trenches to mark the anniversary of the Great War.

A trench has also been dug at The Engine House Visitor Centre, Highley, alongside the Severn Valley Railway.

It was dedicated in a ceremony last month in which pupils from Highley Primary High School attended. Th etrench has been used for school visits and is open to visitors to the railway. It is open through this month and September with an accompanying static display.