Tuileries British Cemetery

Tuileries British Cemetery is a small Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground located east of Ypres (Ieper) in Belgium's West Flanders province, near the village of Zillebeke. The name refers to a former tile-works ("tuileries") that stood close to the site during the First World War.

How did this cemetery come to exist?

The ground on which the cemetery lies fell within the intense fighting zone of the Ypres Salient from 1915 onward. Commonwealth soldiers, along with a handful of French soldiers, were buried here over the following years of the conflict. Its proximity to the front line meant the cemetery came under repeated artillery bombardment, which destroyed many of the original graves — leaving the remains of several soldiers impossible to identify again after the war.

How many burials does the cemetery hold?

Tuileries British Cemetery today contains 95 First World War burials and commemorations. Only 26 graves are known and marked, of which 16 belong to unidentified soldiers. The remaining 69 Commonwealth casualties and two French soldiers, whose graves were destroyed by shellfire, are commemorated by special memorials — a CWGC practice used where a physical grave no longer survives but records confirm burial within the cemetery grounds.

Who designed the cemetery?

The cemetery's layout and architecture were designed by Wilfred Clement Von Berg, one of the architects who worked with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the post-war reconstruction of cemeteries across Flanders. The site follows the familiar CWGC pattern: rows of uniform white headstones, a central Cross of Sacrifice, and carefully maintained lawns and planting, giving the ground a quiet, contemplative atmosphere that contrasts with the violence of the fighting once waged here.

How can visitors reach the site?

The cemetery lies roughly 3 kilometres east of Ieper's town centre, on the Maaldestedestraat, a side road off the Meenseweg (N8), the main route connecting Ieper to Menen. The surrounding area forms part of the Ypres Salient — the stretch of ground around the town where some of the bloodiest battles of the Western Front were fought, including the fighting around Zillebeke and the nearby ridges.

Frequently asked questions

Is the cemetery open to the public? Yes. Like most CWGC cemeteries in Belgium, the site is freely accessible to visitors at any time, with no entrance fee.

Why are so many of the graves unidentified? Repeated artillery bombardment during the war destroyed or disturbed many of the original burials, making it impossible to later confirm the identities of the soldiers involved — hence the large number of graves marked only "known unto God" and the special memorials commemorating casualties whose graves were lost.

Is it worth combining a visit with other Ypres Salient sites? Yes. The area around Zillebeke and the Meenseweg road is dense with CWGC cemeteries and memorials, making it easy to combine a visit here with a broader look at the fighting that took place around Ypres between 1914 and 1918.