Colne Valley Cemetery

Colne Valley Cemetery is a small First World War burial ground east of the village of Boezinge (formerly Boesinghe), north of Ieper in West Flanders. It sits on Kleinepoezelstraat, in an area that for most of the war directly faced the German front line across no man's land.

Where does the name come from?

The name has nothing to do with Belgium — it comes from the Colne Valley in Yorkshire, England. Territorial battalions of the West Riding Regiment, part of the 49th Division, were largely recruited from the Huddersfield and Colne Valley area, and soldiers gave the surrounding trenches names from home. That's why nearby positions were also called Skipton Road and Huddersfield Road. The cemetery itself was laid out a short distance south of an observation point known as Caesar's Nose.

When was it established, and who is buried here?

The cemetery was begun in July 1915 and remained in use until February 1916 — a relatively short but intense period of trench warfare on this stretch of the Ypres Salient. It contains 47 First World War burials, 30 of them officers and men of the West Riding Regiment. The remaining graves belong to soldiers from other units who fought in the same sector during that period.

Why did the site need rescuing?

Colne Valley Cemetery sits at one of the lowest points in this part of Flanders, which for decades meant recurring flooding. The problem became severe enough that in 2005 the rear boundary wall and a brick tool shed collapsed. At times the ground was completely submerged, cutting the cemetery off from visitors entirely. In 2014, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, working with the Province of West Flanders and the City of Ypres, carried out a major restoration: every above-ground structure was dismantled down to its foundations, and the ground level was raised by an average of around 1.2 metres to solve the drainage problem for good.

What is it like to visit today?

Following the restoration, wheelchair access is available through the main entrance. To reach the cemetery, turn off the N369 into Brugstraat, cross the bridge, bear right into Langemarkseweg, then turn right into Kleinepoezelstraat and continue straight for about 500 metres.

Why it's worth a stop

Colne Valley Cemetery is one of the smaller, lesser-known burial grounds of the Ypres Salient, and its value lies precisely in that intimacy — a coherent group of soldiers from a single corner of Yorkshire, who fought and died on the same modest stretch of front line through the summer and autumn of 1915. Unlike vast sites such as Tyne Cot, it invites a slower, more personal kind of visit. The story of its twenty-first-century restoration — literally raising the cemetery above the waterline — is also a reminder of the ongoing effort needed to preserve places that the landscape itself has tried to reclaim.

Frequently asked questions

How many people are buried at Colne Valley Cemetery? It contains 47 First World War graves, most belonging to soldiers of the West Riding Regiment.

Where does the cemetery's name come from? From the Colne Valley in Yorkshire, England, home to the territorial battalions that fought in this sector.

Is the cemetery wheelchair accessible? Yes, the main entrance provides wheelchair access.

Why was the cemetery restored in 2014? Because of persistent flooding — the ground was raised by roughly 1.2 metres after part of the boundary wall and a tool shed collapsed in 2005.