Remembrance Trails of the Great War on the Western Front: routes of heritage and memory

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe First World War Centenary (2014–2018) is stimulating much interest in the memory of this conflict and is already encouraging increased tourism to the old Western Front region of France and Belgium. One of the strategies adopted by regional tourism authorities is the creation of ‘Remembrance Trails’ – self-guided circuits designed for car, motorbike or bicycle. Using a case study approach, this paper will examine these trails from a perceptual angle to demonstrate how, despite the lack of empirical evidence in our understanding of them, Remembrance Trails have a key role to play in the emerging war-tourism resources of the region. Using the model of Timothy and Boyd (2015), the routes are interpreted as either organically or purposively planned and in linking ‘sites of memory’ able to provide an effective way of engaging with the landscape and narrative of war. The paper argues that the routes have an important role to play in the transmission of memory and as ‘linear memorials’ can be viewed as emerging pilgrimage routes with the potential to concentrate experience in a dynamic way.