"LIDAR scan of waterloo battlefield" Topic

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That's interesting – I'd be interested to see what the sandpit by La Haye Sainte looked like

I too would be interested in the sandpit. I wonder if this technology will locate any mass graves on the battlefield?

Fascinating but so far these seem the only two images. The formal gardens at HGmt can indeed be seen in their original checkerboard pattern! The "ditch" is surely just a hollow in the middle of the lost orchard. The covered way shows better here, than in reality these days.

Odd though the suggested site of earth removal for the mound. Surely the whole point of "spoiling my battlefield" was that they used the ridge immediately south of the Ohain road, negating its value. The only remnant at the Gordon memorial shows how steep was the descent down to the Brussels/Charleroi chaussee. Even today go down with care at that point!

Even the north side of the transverse road still has a steep bank in places, on a much wider modern road. The south bank is non existent today.

The sandpit? I have hunted around beside the road. All I would say is that there is a particularly sandy stretch just there, even today. It crumbles to the touch. Modern cultivated "Waterloo" farmland sets rock hard in summer, but if it does rain, the water takes ages to drain.

… and of course, they'll illustrate the article with a picture of Swedish re-enactors – but then, I suppose pictures of British, French or Prussian re-enactors are really hard to come by…

Like Deadhead I can't help noticing the lower ground between the Gordon column and the road (which actually does seem to show in the lower right quarter of the LIDAR picture as well) so it's hard to imagine where all that dirt would have gone if not to build the mound. Perhaps they had to take material from both sites to complete it?

No, the Gordon column is way off to the right of the mound picture. This is a very close up view, just where the Ohain road takes that bend along the west ridge. The square area is an excellent little bar and its car park. Huge beer selection!

However, even on this picture……look along the right hand side of the lane. The upper bank (north side) is far higher than the lower south side (no bank at all). The soil was all taken from the south bank running from the mound right across to the main Brussels-Charleroi road (as above, the lower right quarter indeed, but stretching much further than this picture). Hence the loss of the ridge top that was so vital The Gordon monument is on the west bank of that main road, between LHS and "Wellington's Elm"