Messines Ridge British Cemetery

• Country Belgium
• Total identified casualties 582 Find these casualties
• Region West-Vlaanderen
• Identified casualties from First World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.76488, Longitude: 2.89076

Location information

Messines Ridge British Cemetery is located 9.5 Kms south of Ieper town centre on the Nieuwkerkestraat, a road leading from 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. Nieuwkerkestraat is a right hand turning from the N365 in the town of Mesen. The cemetery lies 250 metres after this right hand turning, on the left hand side of the road.

Visiting information

ARRIVAL

The cemetery and memorial are signposted.

Messines Ridge British Cemetery is close to Messines Ridge New Zealand Memorial. To access the cemetery, visitors pass the New Zealand Memorial.

PARKING

Parking is at the side of the main road along the front of the cemetery and memorial. There is space for multiple vehicles.

The edge of the parking area has tactile strips at the roadside, with a shallow concrete drainage channel between the road and the parking verge. It is possible to park within 1 metre of the path leading to the cemetery and memorial.

The ground is flat and firm with a tarmac surface.

ACCESS LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE

The cemetery is at the end of a paved path that passes around the New Zealand Memorial which stands on a raised circular plot of land. The path is made of flat paving stones and has loose gravel on either side of the path.

The Cross of Sacrifice is in the centre of the raised circular mound in the centre of the path, forming part of the New Zealand Memorial.

There are multiple sets of stone steps to climb to access the cemetery, following the route from the parking to the burial area. Four steps lead up to the pathway surrounding the New Zealand Memorial from the roadside.

To the rear of the memorial is another set of twelve steps leading up to the burial area.

The Register Box is inside the cemetery at the very top of the last set of steps, the Register Box, mounted on the inside wall of the left bastion.

The Stone of Remembrance is located in the centre of cemetery, in line with the Cross of Sacrifice and the memorial shelter building.

Midway down the left side of the cemetery is a large stone memorial shelter building, an open paved central area with chapels on either side. Two stone steps lead up to the chapels and paved central area. There is seating in the central paved area.

There is a three-step stair in front of the shelter. This can be bypassed on either side by sloping grass.

There is a recessed stone bench seating area in front of the shelter. Paving under the benches are level with the grass. There is a low wall level surrounding the seating area with the three-step stair leading up to the shelter building. Step-free access to the seating area is possible when approaching from the stone of remembrance.

Where not stone paving, all internal paths are grass, the ground is flat and firm.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

The alternative entrance into the cemetery is via a grass path that passes to the left of the New Zealand Memorial. This route provides unrestricted access into the cemetery.

The grass path, approximately 40 metres long, is to the left side of the main entrance aisle and avoids all steps. The path follows a route on elevated ground, with a one metre drop on the right-hand side of the path down to the path surrounding the New Zealand Memorial.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery and memorial are permanently open.

History information

Messines (now Mesen) was considered a strong strategic position, not only from its height above the plain below, but from the extensive system of cellars under the convent known as the 'Institution Royale.' The village was taken from the 1st Cavalry Division by the German 26th Division on 31 October-1 November 1914. An attack by French troops on 6 -7 November was unsuccessful and it was not until the Battle of Messines on 7 June 1917 that it was retaken by the New Zealand Division. On 10-11 April 1918, the village fell into German hands once more after a stubborn defence by the South African Brigade, but was retaken for the last time on 28-29 September 1918.

MESSINES RIDGE BRITISH CEMETERY, which stands on ground that belonged to the 'Institution Royale' (the Cross of Sacrifice is on the site of the Institution's windmill), was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefield around Messines and from the following small burial grounds:-

BELL FARM CEMETERY, WYTSCHAETE, near the South side of the Messines-Kemmel road, where 32 soldiers of the 25th Division were buried in June, 1917.

BLAUWEPOORTBEEK CEMETERY, WYTSCHAETE, 1.6 kms North-East of Messines, where 16 Australian and seven United Kingdom soldiers were buried in August-October, 1917.

BOUSBECQUES EAST GERMAN CEMETERY, on the South side of the village, where four soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried by a German Field Hospital in November, 1914.

BRISTOL CASTLE MILITARY CEMETERY, MESSINES, on the Wulverghem road near Wulverghem, where 32 United Kingdom soldiers of the 36th (Ulster) and 14th (Light) Divisions were buried in September and October, 1918.

LUMM FARM CEMETERY, WYTSCHAETE, a little East of the Messines road, where 13 United Kingdom and two Australian soldiers were buried in June-September, 1917.

MIDDLE FARM CEMETERY, WYTSCHAETE, near the Messines road 500 metres North of Messines, where 16 Australian, 14 United Kingdom and four New Zealand soldiers were buried in July-December, 1917.

ONRAET FARM CEMETERY, WYTSCHAETE, between Wytschaete and St. Eloi, in which 29 soldiers of the 36th Division were buried in June-August, 1917.

QUEENSLAND CEMETERY, WARNETON, on the lower road from Messines to Warneton, where 30 Australian soldiers (of whom 23 belonged to the 41st Battalion) and three from the United Kingdom were buried in June and July, 1917.

RIVER DOUVE CEMETERY, MESSINES (also called Snitchel Farm) on the river bank South of Messines, containing the graves of 24 Australian and four United Kingdom soldiers who fell in June-November, 1917.

The dates of death of those buried here range from October 1914 to October 1918, but the majority died in the fighting of 1917.

There are now 1,534 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 957 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties known or believed to be buried among them, or who were buried in other cemeteries where their graves were destroyed by shell fire.

Within the cemetery stands the MESSINES RIDGE (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL which commemorates over 800 soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who died in or near Messines in 1917 and 1918 and who have no known grave.

This is one of seven memorials in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. The memorials are all in cemeteries chosen as appropriate to the fighting in which the men died.

Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Charles Holden.