Yorkshire Trench near Ypres

[suesalter1]

Is the Yorkshire Trench still open? Last I heard, it was flooded and therefore closed. We're in Ypres from the 5th September.

Thanks,

Sue

 

[Sapper D.]

According to the website, and a recent tripadvisor review, it is certainly "open". 

 

[suesalter1]

Okay, Thanks. Will check it out.

 

[Mark Hone]

I meant to have a recce when I was in Ieper on a short private visit this week, but didn't have time in the end. It is a possibility for my October school tour, as one of our old boys was blinded by a shell explosion on the canal embankment not far away, As Sapper says, it is mentioned in the current tourist literature which I was looking through at the Ariane hotel. 

[Sapper D.]

I'm in Ieper next week. For a week. Lucky me! 

Shall endeavour to visit said trench. Haven't been there for ages, 10 years ago I reckon! 

 

 

[Mark Hone]

I managed to visit Ieper for the first time in three years. Much was the same but there were some differences. There is a lot of renovation work going on at the Cloth Hall and around St Martin's Cathedral. Much of the centre is like a building site and of course the Menin Gate is closing next year for a big refurbishment. Some businesses in the Grote Markt have changed and there seems to be a wider variety of cuisines available there. Horror of horrors: the restaurants and cafes all seem to be serving chunky, British style chips now instead of classic Belgian fries!

[Sapper D.]

Yuk! 

[Ian Riley]

On 18/08/2022 at 10:08, Mark Hone said:

I managed to visit Ieper for the first time in three years. Much was the same but there were some differences. There is a lot of renovation work going on at the Cloth Hall and around St Martin's Cathedral. Much of the centre is like a building site and of course the Menin Gate is closing next year for a big refurbishment. Some businesses in the Grote Markt have changed and there seems to be a wider variety of cuisines available there. Horror of horrors: the restaurants and cafes all seem to be serving chunky, British style chips now instead of classic Belgian fries!

I noticed this (chunkier chips) at the beginning of August  ... and when I complained about 'chips' IN the edge of my plate on two successive nights at a long-established and well-known eatery there was an earnest/animated discussion about how they do their cooking (despite me pointing to the offending ceramic irregularities several times) 

Edited 5 September , 2022 by Ian Riley

[Sapper D.]

Just back from a fantastic week at Jerry's Place, Ramparts House. Briliant!! Two things struck me...

- the prices have shot up in Belgium/Ieper! Had our first (and last) dinner on the square. Average service, decent food & drinks, excellent surroundings but the cost... 

- Yorkshire Trench wasn't as much .... 'fun', as our first (2010??) visit. Obviously everything was very parched etc. and the floodings had left their traces but it felt a little as a forgotten and an un-loved place. Maintenance was poor (who's responsible for the upkeep?) and it didn't speak, as did the NZ memorial at Mesen, for instance. I'll try and post a few pictures to show my point. 

Once again a lovely and interesting stay in the Westhoek. We loved the walk around Mesen (you know, with those annoying little stones/tiles in the pavement, which often seem to be covered, partially or not, by  odds-and-sods left by workmen) and the Pool of Peace. Funny that, at Mesen, WW2 and 1 touched eachother with Hitler's presence there!

For a great evening out, but not cheap, I suggest "Merlijn", in Reutel. Great food, drinks (nearly all local - including the bubbles!!) and a fantastic service and, best of all, drinks in between the grapes with a direct view of the battlesite where Capt. Clement Robertson won his V.C. On the 4th of october 1917, brave man. (and let's not forget Pte. Allen - his work was good enough for a D.C.M.) Take someone along to drive, their whisk(e)y's are fantastic too!!! We had a 'Clement' menu, which made the evening much more affordable. 

 

[Mark Hone]

Thanks for this. To be honest, Yorkshire Trench doesn't look as bad as I'd feared. Someone told me a couple of years ago that it was in total disrepair. I took my group in June to Bayernwald. Although it was still a very interesting site, that too looked rather neglected in places. 

Edited 7 September , 2023 by Mark Hone

[AOK4]

Hello,

I just found this article (in Dutch): https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022/10/26/loopgraaf-_yorkshire-trench-in-ieper-wordt-gerestaureerd/

It seems they will start crowdfunding to get it restored (why oh why do they in Belgium invest a lot of money in something to have it in good shape and then let it fall into ruins before they have to completely renovate it again at huge costs? Why no regular maintenance?).

Jan

[Mark Hone]

Thanks for this. We didn't visit Yorkshire Trrnch in the end because of the reports  about its condition. Bayernwald is in reasonable shape but after twenty years the wicker-work supports of the trenches in particular need renovation. 

[AOK4]

2 hours ago, Mark Hone said:

Thanks for this. We didn't visit Yorkshire Trrnch in the end because of the reports  about its condition. Bayernwald is in reasonable shape but after twenty years the wicker-work supports of the trenches in particular need renovation. 

The wattlework of Bayernwald is a disgrace. It's some kind of cheap Ersatz of what wattlework should really be, just some branches nailed to wooden beams...

[Sapper D.]

Shame really, the things most people enjoy vistiting being negleted by the local politicians. 

[AOK4]

An update from yesterday. Apparently the restoration is finished: https://www.focus-wtv.be/nieuws/restauratie-loopgraaf-yorkshire-trench-en-dugout-ieper-klaar

Jan

[Mark Hone]

Good to hear. I was there in April and it wasn't in as bad a condition as I'd feared but clearly work has been done since. I may well pop in again when I visit Ieper again shortly. It will be odd to be there in the Autumn without a school Battlefields Tour in tow!

Edited 6 September , 2023 by Mark Hone

[Ian Riley]

I was there at the beginning of  August (2023) and things were looking a lot better although I think there was still work to be done on the signage I think. Is there not a presentation to mark the completion of refurbishment scheduled for this month? I think it has been crowd-funded (3) Facebook

There is an interesting display including a schematic (almost cartoon-like but no worse for that) information board at Klein Zwaanhof (Little Swan Farm)  a mere 250 metres away on foot  (or an interesting round trip by road). This is the northern entry and information point for one of the Salient Walks. The easy way from Yorkshire Trench is to cross the road and go a bit to the left and walk up towards the municipal 'green' compost dump. There is a path to the left hand side of the barrier and control hut between wire fences  and walk down this for about 20 metres and one comes out at Klein Zwaanhof. If it's in opening hours (which seemed pretty broad) just push the door to the 'farm' and walk in. The information board is on the car park I expected to find a Flemish family having their lunch and snatching  the milk bottles on the table but it is an unattended information point with loos. KLEIN ZWAANHOF: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) (tripadvisor.co.uk) To get there by road from Yorkshire Trench was a bit of an adventure. it's down from Colne Valley CWGC 

 

 

[Mark Hone]

Thanks for this, Ian. I've driven past Klein Zwaanhof before now but never stopped to look at the info board. Would it be possible to manoeuvre a bike along the short cut between there and Yorkshire Trench? You mentioned Colne Valley Cemetery. I realised with a shock that it is nearly ten years since I took one of the participants on my school tour to see where his great-grandfather, Harold Hirst, had helped to bury his cousin and best friend Norman Hirst in 1915. Have they sorted out the flooding problem which at times made the cemetery inaccessible? 

Edited 7 September , 2023 by Mark Hone

[Michelle Young]

Looking at the thread, they raised the cemetery by over a metre.

 

[Ian Riley]

Mark,  I don't think there would be any problem getting a bike along the footpath. It isn't signposted though. We saw the notice that said 'Further information 250 metres' but no indication that it was down some side ginnel. We were given directions at the Kenniscentrum in the Cloth Hall and so went back ... and we visited Lt Col Thomas Boardman from our village war memorial whilst saying 'Hello' to Noel Chavasse

Edited 7 September , 2023 by Ian Riley

[Loopgraaf]

Is it still the same as before restoration or is it now a upgrade with underground? 

[Sapper D.]

Great !

[Aurel Sercu]

2 hours ago, Loopgraaf said:

Is it still the same as before restoration or is it now a upgrade with underground? 

Still the same, except that the course of the earlier French trench (dating approx. April-May 1915), marked on the surface with wooden boards before the restoration, now only is a shallow ditch.

The new sandbags (only near the two entrances, where also the first dozen beams - of 2003 - were replaced) look too 'new' to me. The old sandbags look more authentic, but these old sandbags of course (not being good quality when placed there in 2003) are very vulnerable and for some parts of the trench restoration there will be required in the not so distant future. Which of course wil be a matter of funds ...)

Aurel

[Mark Hone]

Thanks all for that further information. Ian, you have reminded me that I did contact the people at your local Garden Centre about Colonel Boardman but as luck would have it, it was in March 2020, just as Covid was tightening its grip, and I never heard back from them. We visited the grave at Brandhoek as part of my final school tour in October 2022. I now have some doubts as to whether I have correctly identified Thomas Boardman on the earliest photographs of our school Cadet Corps, of which he was a founder member, but I may start a separate thread about this. 

I am threatening to take to two wheels in Ieper on my next visit, as I used to do on virtually every trip there. However, it will be the first time I have done so since breaking my hip in a cycling accident 8 years ago. 

Edited 7 September , 2023 by Mark Hone

[Mark Hone]

Looking at men on the Conwy War Memorial in preparation for a forthcoming visit to Ieper, I have discovered a couple of 14th RWF killed in June/July 1917 while their unit was stationed on the Canal Bank/Zwaanhof Sector in the run up to 3rd Ypres. Both are buried at Bard Cottage. That gives me another reason to visit the area1