"Reinforcements" Topic

Great!

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Amicalement
Armand

Really clever.

The point here is not just the modelling…it is the research that went into creating Trimiotou….of which almost nothing seems to be known. A few vague images, which concentrate on La Belle Alliance. This looks very convincing. I always imagined it to be much smaller, but that is purely because it seems to have been ignored and there seems to no remnant.

Indeed. There seems no consensus on its correct name. I have seen maps calling it Trimution (Siborne) and several terming it as Trimotion even! Looking very closely it does indeed seem to have been bigger than I thought and indeed had an enclosure of some kind.

Dear Deadhead, many thanks for your kind words. If you have any information I'd happily take it into account when building the enclosure. The available pictures certainly suggest some trees and bushes. Have you a close up of the Siborne map or the model itself?

I thought the pictures you collected here
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made a great collection showing that there was indeed some sizeable building across the chaussee. Maps tell you little more alas, but suggest, if anything, something bigger than the inn, which was them only a fraction of the current building of course.

Adkin even gives us another spelling, Trimotiou!

Siborne's model also shows it, the larger building on the right!

Dear Deadhead, this is excellent, I'll have as think about this and take it into account. It looks to me that the modern long building is not very different in length from that shown by Siborne.

The Restaurant La Saline? I have just been checking Google Earth to see if any suggestion of even foundations on the aerial shots, but instead this building right on the spot. It does look very like La Belle Alliance indeed. Could this be a true remnant of Trimotiou? Fascinating.

The sunken road at the bottom right of the picture of Siborne's model is still there. This building does seem to be right on the spot anyway, however much of it is original.

I agree, I'm going to extend my model to fit with this evidence – many thanks for your help on this!

You have one great advantage…which I love….

Anything you produce is totally 100% unique….

I am not sure your model needs any further extension. It is already longer than La Bell All, which is right for the time.

Brilliant work

Yes. That is it. It is unique. I defy anyone to produce or research a copy of the building of Trimitiou. (My two younger sons are History Graduates, one working on a PhD, and both are impressed).

That's very kind, I'm a history graduate as well, so kindred spirits!

You are talking about this one…?

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Amicalement
Armand

Indeed I am. It does have a distinct similarity to LBA (much of which was added on after 1815 of course.)

I do wonder if some part of it is the original building. It certainly looks right! and it is on the same site marked in every map.

I think this looks right at the southern end. The northern end doesn't tie up with contemporary pictures which show a dual height roof and a barn perpendicular to the main building. That barn isn't shown on the Siborne model, which makes me think that it might have been pulled down after the battle (remember Siborne didn't survey the battlefield until much later). The same may have happened to the a of the main building which now has a small lean-to in place of the bigger construction there in 1815. If you use Google Earth it has a handy measuring tool which allows you to measure the exact length and width of the buildings. I'm really grateful to you both for your assistance.

Found a higher resolution image that allows for more magnification. Fits in with what you say above, but of course reflects what Siborne found some years later;

When I was there… they assure me that mostly parts of the building was original from those days….

Amicalement
Armand

From this marvellous source of info;
PDF link
The building is called Trimotion but an additional comment confirms how the present restaurant got its name!

"22. Other names of the farm are Badard, La Salière or la Salinne. This name is probably derived from a local saltpan near La belle Alliance or by the fact that its owner was a merchant of salted supplies. Cf. Aerts, W. Promenades etymologiques etc. p.12 Cf. Mudford, W. – An historical account of the campaign in the Netherlands, print M"

Lovely to see fellow modellers helping each other out with some excellent research.

Too often forums can,unfortunately, be transformed into point scoring exercises.

My research into the buildings at Quatre Bras was a total nightmare with contradictory nonsense excabated by ' contempory' paintings exhibiting ' artistic license'.

Thomas Shipley came to the rescue in the end thanks to a fellow modeller!

Best wishes,

Chris

Wow…that is one gorgeous collection of figurines…

You are absolutely right Chris, on both accounts: it is really hard to get at the truth, but when people help out things can get so much easier. I do also agree about the point scorers, who are mercifully absent!

Well I defy anyone to score points on this one. Since reading this, I have researched every book in my collection, every contemporary map, Siborne's model, but especially what is still there now on Google e
Earth and you seem to have highlighted something really significant.

The building a hundred yards down the road from the legendary La Bell All may well be at least (if not better) representative of what was there at the time. Your model is just inspired.

But don't knock the button (or the original version of that phrase; the rivet) counters. It is how one responds. You can put the spongeman to the left of the gun, the Guards Colours the wrong way around, the grenadiers left of the line, the British cavalry trumpeters on greys. You are arguably wrong but does that matter? That is entirely up to you and next time you might just thank the button counters and not feel insulted.

This has been a brilliant topic, to anyone obsessed with June 18th 1815, but I suspect the lessons learnt will be obscured within weeks on this new "Internet" thing (which might catch on I admit)

You've been brilliant, Deadhead, and I hope I can ask your advice in the future. My 800 Old Guard are coming along nicely, but it's a right pain taking their bases off to put them on the cobbled road!