Battles of the First World War Podcast · Mike Cunha

Demarcation Stones Fundraiser with Roger Steward and Dr Dominiek Dendooven

·33 min·2 clips

The Hellfire Corner stone can be restored with its original line, “the invader was brought to a standstill.”

1. Battles of the First World War Podcast focuses on the new Ypres League’s demarcation-stone fundraising drive in the Ypres Salient. 2. Mike hosts Roger Stewart and Dr Dominiek Dendooven, who are founders of the new Ypres League and researchers working in the Ypres area. 3. The episode asks what the demarcation stones are, why Hellfire Corner matters, and how the restoration project will be funded. 4. Dominic says the demarcation stones were a 1920 idea from the Touring Club de France and Touring Club de Belgique to mark the furthest German advance. 5. He says French sculptor and veteran Paul Bourdieu designed the stones, which are pink granite and a little over a meter high. 6. Roger explains that the original Ypres League paid for seven stones and partly funded an eighth near Ypres. 7. Dominic says Belgium has about 22 demarcation stones in total, while eight survive around Ypres today. 8. He divides the Ypres stones into five British, two French, and one Belgian example. 9. Roger identifies Hellfire Corner as the main target because its lettering has completely disappeared. 10. Dominic adds that a ninth stone once stood at Wheelchair, east of Ypres near Oxford Road Cemetery, but no photograph has been found. 11. Roger says the original text, “the invader was brought to a standstill,” can be restored on Hellfire Corner. 12. He notes that the phrase varies by stone, with 1914, 1915, or 1918 dates depending on where the German advance was halted. 13. Dominic says some lettering vanished during the Second World War when German occupiers treated the stones as offensive. 14. Roger says the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will remove the stone, take it to Bourlon, and carry out the restoration. 15. Dominic says the site is listed by the Flemish government, which makes a full restoration possible. 16. Roger says the new Ypres League’s fundraising page ring-fences donations specifically for the demarcation-stone project. 17. The conversation is practical and civic-minded, with Roger and Dominic moving between historical explanation and project logistics. 18. The tone stays collaborative, and the speakers repeatedly frame the work as upkeep rather than new memorial building. 19. People interested in Ypres remembrance, battlefield heritage, and local restoration projects would likely value this episode. 20. Listeners looking for combat history without conservation work may skip it.

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