Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
- Country Belgium
- Total identified casualties 10124 Find these casualties
- Region West-Vlaanderen
- Identified casualties from First World War
- GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.82839, Longitude: 2.7016
PLEASE NOTE
Due to falling tree branches, the area around the trees at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery has been cordoned off. Please do not enter this area until it has been cleared by the Commission’s tree surgeons. Plot 23, 33 and rows A, B, C and D in Plot 30 are temporarily not accessible to the public.
For questions, please contact us at enquiries@cwgc.org.
Also please be aware that there are ledges from which it is possible to fall, if visiting with small children, please ensure they are supervised at all times.
RESTORATION WORKS
We are currently carrying out necessary restoration works at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, that will be finished by the end of 2022. The works are the second phase of a larger project, funded by the Flemish Government. Scheduled are the rebuild of the boundary wall, after being damaged by frost and restoration of the Cross of Sacrifice, Stone of Remembrance and the shelter building. In order to preserve the integrity of the site, the natural stone and bricks are recuperated and re-used as much as possible; and only quality materials, such as Boomse bricks and lime mortars are used. Find out more about the CWGC restoration philosophy here: Caring for Our Sites | CWGC
The last and third phase will then finalise the works by tackling the restoration of the front retaining wall, entrance building and the greenery.
The works will be carried out by Monument Vandekerckhove and managed by Koplamp Architecten and the CWGC Works team.
Please note that parts of the cemetery might be temporarily inaccessible during the works. For more details please do contact us at enquiries@cwgc.org.
Location information
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery is located 12 Kms west of Ieper town centre, on the Boescheepseweg, a road leading from the N308 connecting Ieper to Poperinge. From Ieper town centre the Poperingseweg (N308) is reached via the Elverdingestraat, then over two small roundabouts in the J. Capronstraat. The Poperingseweg is a continuation of the J. Capronstraat and begins after a prominent railway level crossing. On reaching Poperinge, the N308 joins the left hand turning onto the R33, Poperinge ring road. The R33 ring continues to the left hand junction with the N38 Frans-Vlaanderenweg. 800 metres along the N38 lies the left hand turning onto Lenestraat. The next immediate right hand turning leads onto Boescheepseweg. The cemetery itself is located 2 Kms along Boescheepseweg on the right hand side of the road.
Visiting information
Special access for wheelchair users provided at this cemetery.
Please note, in some rows there are two headstones per grave, which can cause confusion when counting headstones to find a grave. If a headstone is not found by counting headstones, then we suggest continuing to look further along the row as for instance, the headstone for grave 10 could be 19th or 20th headstone in the row.
History information
During the First World War, the village of Lijssenthoek was situated on the main communication line between the Allied military bases in the rear and the Ypres battlefields. Close to the Front, but out of the extreme range of most German field artillery, it became a natural place to establish casualty clearing stations. The cemetery was first used by the French 15th Hopital D'Evacuation and in June 1915, it began to be used by casualty clearing stations of the Commonwealth forces.
From April to August 1918, the casualty clearing stations fell back before the German advance and field ambulances (including a French ambulance) took their places.
The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 24 being unidentified. There are 883 war graves of other nationalities, mostly French and German, 11 of these are unidentified. There is 1 Non World War burial here.
The only concentration burials were 24 added to Plot XXXI in 1920 from isolated positions near Poperinghe and 17 added to Plot XXXII from St. Denijs Churchyard in 1981.
Eight of the headstones are Special Memorials to men known to be buried in this cemetery, these are located together alongside Plot 32 near the Stone of Remembrance.
The cemetery, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, is the second largest Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium.