CWGC Cemetery: RIDGE WOOD MILITARY CEMETERY

Visiting Information

Wheelchair access possible via main entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Department on telephone number: 01628 634221

Local Information

Ridge Wood Military cemetery is located 5 Km south west of Ieper town centre, on the Slijpstraat, a road leading from the Kemmelseweg. (Connecting Ieper to Kemmel N331). From Ieper town centre the Kemmelseweg is reached via the Rijselsestraat, through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort), and straight on towards Armentieres (N365). 900 m after the crossroads is the right hand turning onto the Kemmelseweg. (Made prominent by a railway level crossing). 4 km along the Kemmelseweg on the right hand side lies Elzenwalle Military Cemetery, which marks the junction with Slijpstraat. Ridge Wood Military Cemetery lies 1 Km along the Slijpstraat, after a small staggered crossroads.

Historical Information

Ridge Wood was the name given to a wood standing on high ground between the Kemmel road and Dickebusch Lake. The cemetery lies in a hollow on the western side of the ridge and the position was chosen for a front line cemetery as early as May 1915. The first graves were from the 2nd Royal Irish Rifles and similar groups were made by the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Canadian Battalions and the 9th Durham Light Infantry at the times when they occupied this sector. The German advance in the spring of 1918 pushed the front line back on to the ridge, and it was not till July that the wood was finally cleared by the 6th and 33rd Divisions. There are few burials from these last battles in the cemetery and the graves of some French divisions, which fought alongside Commonwealth forces in April and May, were removed to other burial grounds. The cemetery contains 619 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.