WW1 British Army Bicycle wooden wheel

WW1 British Army Bicycle wooden wheel

British Army Bicycle wooden wheel used during the First world war and recovered from a house in the village of Heilly in what was the British rear area on the Somme battlefield of 1916-18.

This wheel was recovered in 2023 from a shed in the garden of a house in the village of Heilly which was the site for the British 36th Casualty clearing station during the battle of the Somme in 1916.

The 36th Casualty Clearing Station was at Heilly from April 1916. It was joined in May by the 38th, and in July by the 2/2nd London, but these hospitals had all moved on by early June 1917. The cemetery was begun in May 1916 and was used by the three medical units until April 1917.

From March to May 1918, it was used by Australian units, and in the early autumn for further hospital burials when the 20th Casualty Clearing Station was there briefly in August and September 1918. The last burial was made in May 1919.

Some woodworm which has been treated.