Strand Military Cemetery

• Country Belgium
• Total identified casualties 804 Find these casualties
• Region Hainaut
• Identified casualties from First & Second World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.73277, Longitude: 2.88025

Location information

Strand Military Cemetery is 13 Kms south of Ieper town centre, on the Rijselseweg N365, which connects Ieper to Wijtschate, Mesen and on to Armentieres. From Ieper town centre the Rijselsestraat runs from the market square, through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort) and directly over the crossroads with the Ieper ring road. The road name then changes to the Rijselseweg. The cemetery lies on the N365, 4 Kms beyond Mesen and immediately before the village of Ploegsteert on the left hand side of the road.

Visiting information

ARRIVAL

The cemetery is not signposted.

PARKING

It is possible to park opposite the cemetery at the side of the main road, along the front of residential properties. There is space for up to 4 vehicles to park.

The parking is 15 metres from the main entrance. The main road must be crossed to access the cemetery. There is a cycle lane between the parking area and the main road. There is another cycle lane running along the side of the road adjacent to the cemetery.

The ground is flat and firm, the surface is tarmac.

ACCESS LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE

The cemetery is T-shaped; the entrance is in the bottom leg of the T.

There are two entrances into the cemetery, with gates at either end of the cemetery along the side facing the main road. The gates are approximately 1.8 m high, with a sliding latch. The left-side gate is latched on the right side of the gate, and the right-side gate is latched on the left side. Both gates are approximately 1.1 metres wide and open inwards.

For each entrance, there is a shallow concrete drainage channel concrete in front of a sloped paving area leading to the entrance. A small step, 50 mm high is in front of the gate. Paving inside is level with the grass. There is uneven ground from the entrance gate pathways into the cemetery, with exposed tree roots in places and drainage edging approximately 25 mm lower than the grass along the edges of the grass.

The Cross of Sacrifice is in the centre of the cemetery, close to the main entrance with paved pathways leading from each entrance gate.

The Stone of Remembrance is in the top right-hand section of the cemetery.

The Register Box is built into the wall, just inside the right-side entrance gate, positioned above a stone bench seating area.

There is a stone shelter building at the top left-hand section of the cemetery with stone seating inside. There is a step up of approximately 50 mm from the grass to the paving leading into the shelter, and a dirt strip between the grass and the paving.

Where not paved, the internal paths are grass, the ground is flat and firm.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

To the left of the left entrance gate around the side of the perimeter wall is a step-free entrance. There is a 1.4 metre wide opening between the wall and hedge. A grass pathway leads from the roadside adjacent to the entrance gate. There is a strip of paving level with the grass in the opening.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery is permanently open.

History information

'Charing Cross' was the name given by the troops to a point at the end of a trench called the Strand, which led into Ploegsteert Wood. In October 1914, two burials were made at this place, close to an Advanced Dressing Station,

The cemetery was not used between October 1914 and April 1917, but in April-July 1917 Plots I to VI were completed. Plots VII to X were made after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from some small cemeteries and from the battlefields lying mainly between Wytschaete and Armentieres. The cemetery was in German hands for a few months in 1918, but was very little used by them.

The following are some of the burial grounds concentrated into Strand Military Cemetery:-

EPINETTE ROAD CEMETERY, HOUPLINES (Nord), on the Southern outskirts of Houplines village, contained the graves of 24 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in November, 1914-September, 1915.

LA BASSE-VILLE GERMAN CEMETERY, WARNETON (West Flanders), on the road from La Basse-Ville to Warneton, contained the graves of 68 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa who died in German hands, April-August, 1918.

LE BIZET CONVENT MILITARY CEMETERY, PLOEGSTEERT, was in the grounds of the Assumptionist Convent between Le Bizet and Motor Car Corner. It contained the graves of 88 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada who fell in October, 1914-October, 1916.

NACHTEGAAL No.1 GERMAN CEMETERY, MERCKEM (West Flanders), midway between Merckem and Houthulst, made in April, 1916, contained the graves of two R.F.C. officers who fell in June, 1917. It was closed in July, 1917.

PLOEGSTEERT WOOD NEW CEMETERY, WARNETON, in the South-East corner of the wood, contained the graves of 19 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in the loss and recapture of Le Gheer, October, 1914.

PROWSE POINT LOWER CEMETERY, WARNETON, was a little North of Ploegsteert Wood. It was made by the 1st Rifle Brigade, and it contained the graves of 13 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1915 and 1916.

TOUQUET-BERTHE GERMAN CEMETERY, PLOEGSTEERT, on the road from Ploegsteert to Le Gheer, contained two unidentified R.A.F. graves of July, 1918.

WARNETON CHURCHYARD was destroyed in the War. It contained the grave of one soldier from the United Kingdom, buried by the Germans in December, 1914.

There are now 1,143 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 354 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to six casualties known or believed to be buried among them, and to 13 whose graves in four of the concentrated cemeteries were destroyed by shell fire.

The eight Second World War burials (three of which are unidentified) all date from May 1940 and the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary force to Dunkirk ahead of the German advance.

The cemetery was designed by Charles Holden.