Hougoumont Farm and the Battle of Waterloo »

Hougoumont Today

Why is Hougoumont Important?

During 18 June 1815 the walled farmstead of Hougoumont was attacked seven times by Napoleon’s infantry and was defended with tenacity and resilience by soldiers of the light companies of three British regiments of Foot Guards, soldiers of the 1st Nassau Regiment and the 1st Hanoverian Brigade.

Column 1

Project Hougoumont

Column 2

Project Hougoumont

Column 3

Project Hougoumont

Column 4

Project Hougoumont

At midday the French broke through the north gates, but the Guardsmen rallied and, after furious and bloody hand-to-hand fighting, drove them out. Then, putting their shoulders to the gates, they succeeded in closing and barring them for good – a moment recorded in Robert Gibb’s famous painting and more recently by Chris Collingwood. The battle for Hougoumont was marked by extraordinary courage and much loss of life on both sides. Later, Wellington famously remarked that the outcome of the battle of Waterloo turned on the closing of the gates at Hougoumont.

Column 1

Project Hougoumont

Column 2

Project Hougoumont

Column 3

Project Hougoumont

Column 4

Project Hougoumont

Hougoumont remained a working farm until the 2003, when the last tenant retired. Thereafter the condition of the buildings deteriorated to such an extent that some were on the point of collapse with cracked and bulging walls and roofs falling in. Nevertheless, in a remarkable way Hougoumont still looked much as it did when the battle ended; the gardener’s house, dairy, cow shed, barns and chapel survived more or less as they were depicted in series of drawings made on the spot by the Prince Regent’s Military Artist, Denis Dighton, a few days after the battle, while outside the walls three ancient chestnut trees, still bearing scars of battle, mark the site of the wood which gave cover to the attacking French. It was and remains a remote, still rural and intensely atmospheric place.

Column 1

Project Hougoumont

Column 2

Project Hougoumont

Column 3

Project Hougoumont

Column 4

Project Hougoumont

So, Hougoumont is important for two reasons: for the critical part it played in the victory of Wellington’s army at Waterloo and for its remarkable, if run-down, state of preservation.