An incredible art installation commemorating those killed in the Battle of the Somme is soon to arrive in South Gloucestershire.

The Trench is part of the Shrouds of the Somme exhibition, designed to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War.

Artist Rob Heard has built the 2m high trench in which tens of thousands of shrouds are stacked.

Names and details of all 72,396 Commonwealth servicemen killed at the Somme who have no known grave are displayed on the outer walls of the trench.

He has hand stitched all the shrouds himself, spending 15,000 hours doing so over the last 18 months.

The installation will be at Aerospace Bristol from September 29 until October 14.

Rob said: "The shrouds in their original layout give dignity and attention to detail, representing the individual who perished, which is very important to be able to give scale to the loss.

"The shrouds in the trench represent the mass loss – a much more uncomfortable and oppressive image of a huge amount of people crushed together.

"These numbers represent only those with no known grave – a fraction of those who died in the whole battle.

"The walk through the 40m trench will be like nothing else."

The exhibition has been funded by South Gloucestershire Council with £5,000 coming from Member Allocated Funding contributions from Conservative councillors.

Cllr Rachael Hunt, chair of South Gloucestershire Council, said: “We are proud to welcome this exhibition to South Gloucestershire which gives local people a most moving and powerful experience and a chance to remember all those who have given their lives in the name of their country.

“Many local people will have seen the Shrouds laid out on College Green in Bristol but seeing them like this, thousands upon thousands stacked on top of each other in The Trench, really brings home the scale of the devastation experienced during the Battle of the Somme.”

Entry to The Trench exhibition is free, although standard ticket prices apply for those visiting Aerospace Bristol.