Boezinge (; ) is a village in the municipality of

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

in the Belgian province of

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

. Boezinge can be reached via the N369 road in the direction of

Diksmuide (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of proper and the former communes of Beerst, Esen, Kaaskerke, Keiem, Lampernisse, Leke, Nieuwkapelle, Oostkerke ...

. It was an independent municipality until 1977. It hosts the historical brewery .

History

Boezinge was first mentioned in 1119 as Boesigha. The village was an ''

heerlijkheid A ''heerlijkheid'' (a Dutch language, Dutch word; pl. ''heerlijkheden''; also called ''heerschap''; Latin: ''Dominium'') was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and Judiciary, judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking ...

''. Until 1556, it was part of the diocese of Terwaan. In

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the village belonged to the Ypres Salient, which made it the site of the Battles of Ypres between

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and Allied forces. Today there are memorials and war cemeteries in the area, many of which are maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

. In 1970, the municipality merged with Zuidschote, and in 1977, it was merged into

Commemoration of World War I

Yorkshire Trench

In the 1990s an original British trench system ("Yorkshire Trench") was discovered by amateur archaeologists, on the site of an industrial estate near the village. Yorkshire Trench was a first line trench for about one year between summer or autumn 1916 until the summer of 1917. In spring of 1917, 173rd Tunnelling Company added a deep dugout to the existing trench. The completed Yorkshire Trench dugout then served as headquarters for the 13th and 16th Battalions of the

Royal Welch Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers () was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales's Division, that was founded in 1689, shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and becam ...

at the start of the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( ), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies of World War I, Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front (World Wa ...

later that year.Nicholas Saunders, '' Killing Time: Archaeology and the First World War'', The History Press 2007 (
see online
/ref> The BEF had decided to carry out all operations in the offensive of summer 1917 from deep dugouts. East of the Ypres Canal in the close vicinity of Yorkshire Trench there were several more dugouts, seven of which - all south and southeast of Yorkshire Trench - were finished by the 173rd or 179th Tunnelling Companies. Of these, ''Yorkshire Trench'', ''Butt 18'', ''Nile Trench'' and ''Heading Lane Dugout'' were double battalion headquarters, ''Bridge 6'' was a brigade headquarters, and'' Lancashire Farm Dugout'' contained two battalion and two brigade headquarters.Activities of The Diggers - Restoration of the Yorkshire Trench & Dug-out
, access date 10 July 2015 The condition of the ground made digging the deep dugouts extremely difficult and dangerous. Work had to be carried out silently and secretly, facing an observant enemy who was only a few hundred metres away. About 180 dugout sites have been located in the Ypres Salient and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part. Yorkshire Trench was rediscovered by amateur archaeologists and systematically excavated in 1998. Although the area is now part of a large industrial estate, the location was opened to the public in 2003 Yorkshire Trench is located close to the John McCrae memorial site at Essex Farm.Boesinghe - The Forgotten Battlefield
access date 10 July 2015
access date 10 July 2015

John McCrae Memorial Site

Welsh Memorial Park

War cemeteries

* Artillery Wood Cemetery, where the Welsh poet Hedd Wyn and the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge are buried * Bard Cottage Cemetery * Boezinge Churchyard war graves * Colne Valley Cemetery * Dragoon Camp Cemetery * Duhallow ADS Cemetery * Essex Farm Cemetery * La Belle Alliance Cemetery * No Man's Cot Cemetery * Talana Farm Cemetery * Welsh Cemetery (Caesar's Nose)

The Castle of Boezinge (Boesinghe)

The estate was destroyed during the first world war in July 1917 and rebuilt after the war. In the private park lies a British command post.

References

External links

{{Authority control Ypres Populated places in West Flanders