WOODS CEMETERY
West-Vlaanderen
Belgium
GPS Coordinates - Latitude: 50.82173, Longitude: 2.9155
Location Information
Woods Cemetery is located 4 Kms south-east of Ieper town centre, on the Verbrandemolenstraat a road leading from the Komenseweg, connecting Ieper to Komen (N336).
From Ieper town centre the Komenseweg is located via the Rijselsestraat, through the Rijselpoort (Lille Gate) and crossing the Ieper ring road, towards Armentieres and Lille. The road name then changes to Rijselseweg. 1 Km along the Rijselseweg lies the left hand turning onto Komenseweg. 2.5 Kms along the Komenseweg lies the right hand turning onto the Vaartstraat. 900 metres along the Vaartstraat lies the left hand turning onto the Verbrandemolenstraat. 400 metres along the Verbrandemolenstraat a short distance from the road is the cemetery.
Visiting Information
Visitors to this site should note the 100 metre grassed access path leading to the cemetery is not accessible by vehicle.
Historical Information
The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War.
Woods Cemetery was begun by the 1st Dorsets and the 1st East Surreys in April 1915; it was used until September 1917 by units holding this sector, and by the field ambulances of their divisions. The graves of the 2nd, 3rd and 10th Canadian Battalions and the London Regiment are particularly numerous. The irregular shape of the cemetery is due to the conditions of burial at the times when the front line was just beyond the wood. The views over the battlefield are extensive.
Woods Cemetery contains 326 First World War burials, 32 of them unidentified.
Total Burials: 326.
Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 180, Canada 111, Australia 3. Total 294.
Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 32.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and William Harrison Cowlishaw
Woods Cemetery is located 4 Kms south-east of Ieper town centre, on the Verbrandemolenstraat a road leading from the Komenseweg, connecting Ieper to Komen (N336).
From Ieper town centre the Komenseweg is located via the Rijselsestraat, through the Rijselpoort (Lille Gate) and crossing the Ieper ring road, towards Armentieres and Lille. The road name then changes to Rijselseweg. 1 Km along the Rijselseweg lies the left hand turning onto Komenseweg. 2.5 Kms along the Komenseweg lies the right hand turning onto the Vaartstraat. 900 metres along the Vaartstraat lies the left hand turning onto the Verbrandemolenstraat. 400 metres along the Verbrandemolenstraat a short distance from the road is the cemetery.
Visiting Information
Visitors to this site should note the 100 metre grassed access path leading to the cemetery is not accessible by vehicle.
Historical Information
The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War.
Woods Cemetery was begun by the 1st Dorsets and the 1st East Surreys in April 1915; it was used until September 1917 by units holding this sector, and by the field ambulances of their divisions. The graves of the 2nd, 3rd and 10th Canadian Battalions and the London Regiment are particularly numerous. The irregular shape of the cemetery is due to the conditions of burial at the times when the front line was just beyond the wood. The views over the battlefield are extensive.
Woods Cemetery contains 326 First World War burials, 32 of them unidentified.
Total Burials: 326.
Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 180, Canada 111, Australia 3. Total 294.
Unidentified Casualties: United Kingdom 32.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and William Harrison Cowlishaw
590195 Rifleman
William Garrett
1st/18th Bn. London Regiment, (London Irish Rifles)
12th July 1917.
Plot III. E. 27.
Son of Mrs. A. M. Garrett, of 174, Town Rd., Lower Edmonton, London.
Picture courtesy of Bill Richards
William Garrett
1st/18th Bn. London Regiment, (London Irish Rifles)
12th July 1917.
Plot III. E. 27.
Son of Mrs. A. M. Garrett, of 174, Town Rd., Lower Edmonton, London.
Picture courtesy of Bill Richards
2256 Private
Thomas John McKinley
8th Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
11th September 1916, aged 34.
Plot V. B. 1.
Son of Thomas and Elizabeth McKinley; husband of Jennie McKinley, of 3, Bruce St., Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. Native of Tasmania.
Thomas John McKinley
8th Bn. Australian Infantry, A. I. F.
11th September 1916, aged 34.
Plot V. B. 1.
Son of Thomas and Elizabeth McKinley; husband of Jennie McKinley, of 3, Bruce St., Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. Native of Tasmania.
451932 Private
W. Sherriffs
2nd Bn. Canadian Infantry
26th April 1916.
Plot II. E. 3
W. Sherriffs
2nd Bn. Canadian Infantry
26th April 1916.
Plot II. E. 3
Preparing to explode a German 'dud' shell with a guncotton charge. In front of Zillebeke, 24 September 1917. © IWM (Q 6017)
Images in this gallery © Werner Van Caneghem
Woods Cemetery, c.1919. © Jeremy Gordon-Smith
Stretcher bearers of the Royal Army Medical Corps going forward. Near Zillebeke, 21 September 1917. © IWM (Q 5987)
Graves behind the 11th Regiment Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) sector of the Zillebeke trenches. January - February 1915. © IWM (Q 51177)
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge. Troops of the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry digging out wounded from their Regimental Aid Post near Zillebeke after the position had be hit by German artillery fire, 20 September 1917. © IWM (Q 5979)
