Lone Tree Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
CWGC burial ground on the Messines Ridge, established 1917.
On the Messines Ridge, at Spanbroekmolen, sits Lone Tree Cemetery, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission site for First World War dead. It occupies one of the ridge’s highest points within Belgium’s Ypres Salient on the Western Front.
Quick Facts
- Use dates
- 1916–1918
- Established
- 1917
- Designer
- JR Truelove
- Nearest town
- Wijtschate
- Heuvelland
- Belgium
- Total
- 88
- Unknowns
- 9
- By country
- Allied Powers:; United Kingdom 88
- By war
- World War I: 88
Facts from the source article.
Foundation
Lone Tree Cemetery was created in 1917, just as the Battle of Messines got underway. It sits near the Spanbroekmolen cemetery. The soldiers buried here are mostly from the Royal Irish Rifles 36th (Ulster) Division, and they died on the battle's opening day. The vast majority of these graves hold men who went "over the top" in the early hours of 7 June 1917.
A number of those interred were actually killed by a mine the British Royal Engineers had placed beneath Lone Tree hill at Spanbroekmolen. That mine detonated about 15 seconds later than intended. It was one of several mines dug under the German positions. The Spanbroekmolen mine contained 91,000 pounds of ammonal, set 88 feet underground at the end of a 1,710-foot tunnel.
When it exploded on 7 June 1917, it created the "Lone Tree Crater," which measured 250 feet across and 40 feet deep. In 1929, the Toc H foundation in Poperinge bought this crater, and it is now known as the Pool of Peace memorial. The cemetery itself was laid out by designer J. R. Truelove. King Albert I of Belgium granted the cemetery grounds to the United Kingdom forever, as a tribute to the British Empire's sacrifices in defending and freeing Belgium during the war.
More in Funerary and Memory Sites of the First World War
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