Maison forestière d'Ors

Location

Two possibilities

Ors is a village about 30 kilometres away from Cambrai along the D 643 towards Le Cateau. Having driven through Le Cateau continue to the village of Bazuel and turn left towards Ors. Here you can visit the cemeteries and the canal where Wilfred Owen was killed. From Ors take the road past the British Cemetery until you reach the main D 959 road. Turn left and at the next junction you will see this glaring white building.

Alternatively : From Le Cateau take the D 959 towards Pommereuil. About a kilometre further on, you will see the building — now on your right.

Note that there is a military site alongside the car park so do not go wandering off into it.

Like bleached bone the house stands out against the green of the surrounding forest

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Background

Back in the day

This Forester’s house (you can find numerous versions in many of France’s great forests) is renowned for having had Wilfred Owen spend his last night (3rd November 1918) in its cellar before going to his death a few kilometres away on the banks of the Sambre-Oise Canal at Ors.

The Bois-Lévêque has for a very long time been owned by the State and at the end of the 19th Century a brick house was constructed in order to house those responsible for looking after it.

The Wilfred Owen Association with the eager support of the Maire of Ors, Jacky Duminy, decided to call upon contemporary artist Simon Patterson to create something that would appeal to the universal nature of Owen’s poems.

The most obvious change is that the entire structure is now white — you cannot miss it.

The construction of the roof was reshaped so that although it looks ordinary, from the car park side it can be seen to be in the form of an open book resting face down with the pages represented by windows.

Access to the cellar is via a spiral descent on the walls of which are inscribed the words of Owen’s final letter ; full of optimism.

The cellar is tiny, so be prepared. You are not descending into some vast underground storeroom for thousands of bottles of wine. Consider that there were twenty-nine people crammed into it !

The house itself has been completely transformed into a haven, away from the rest of the world. The central room offers the chance to sit and listen to Owen’s poems, read by Sir Kenneth Branagh, as the texts are projected onto the walls around you.

The building had become dilapidated over the years

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The Cemeteries

Wilfred Owen is buried in the CWGC plot at Ors Communal Cemetery.

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