CWGC Cemetery: GWALIA CEMETERY

Visiting Information

Visitors to this site should note a 400 metre grassed access path which is unsuitable for vehicles and that prior to reaching the cemetery the road name changes to Elverdingseweg. Please note that this cemetery is accessed via very long chemins and these will prove problematic for wheelchair users at certain times of year. Wheelchair access with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Department on telephone number: 01628 634221

Local Information

Gwalia Cemetery is located 8.5 kilometres west of Ieper town centre on the Steentjesmolenstraat (N333), a road leading from the Veurnseweg (N8) connecting Ieper to Elverdinge and on to Veurne. From Ieper town centre the Veurnseweg (N8) is reached via Elverdingsestraat, then turning right onto Haiglaan. Veurnseweg is a continuation of Haiglaan. 4 kilometres along the Veurnseweg (N8) in the village of Elverdinge, lies the left hand turning onto the N333 Steentjesmolenstraat. 4.5 kilometres along this road the cemetery will be located on the right hand side of the road.

Historical Information

The cemetery was opened at the beginning of July 1917, in the period between the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres. It lay among the camps in flat, wet country and was used by infantry units, artillery and field ambulances until September, 1918. In Plot I, Row H, are buried 14 men of the 9th Lancashire Fusiliers who were killed in the early morning of 4 September 1917, in a German air raid over "Dirty Bucket Camp." The cemetery contains 467 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.