{"id":4491,"date":"2024-11-03T11:37:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T11:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bendingtherules.co.uk\/home\/?page_id=4491"},"modified":"2024-11-03T13:17:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T13:17:38","slug":"ypres","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bendingtherules.co.uk\/home\/ypres\/","title":{"rendered":"Ypres"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 2024 Cas and I travelled to Lippstadt for Herbstwoche but they had asked if we could visit some WW1 sites on our way. After some research, I booked an apartment in Ypres. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ypres, in Flanders<\/a> was close enough to Calais and Dunkirk to get to without too much of a drive and I found a couple of cemeteries where Bending’s were buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coming off the ferry in Dunkirk at about 11:00am gave us time to visit a site before checking in with out hosts in Ypres. So, first stop was the ‘Trench of Death’ near Diksmuide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trench of Death<\/a> is alongside the Yser Canal not far from Diksmuide. You can read more about the site on Wikipedia.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Roadside parking is free and entry tickets can be bought in the relatively new Visitor’s Centre. Upstairs there’s a museum with explanations of why the area was strategically important and how it was fought over.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cas in the Museum at the Trench of Death. Touch screens show collections of images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Outside there are information boards too. The site has been rennovated and reconstructed a couple of times.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the blockhouses within the system.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Much of the site is wet underfoot and some of the lower passageways are flooded. Duckboards help in places.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We didn’t walk the entire length as it was wet under foot in places, but explored the bunker complex which, along with the photos on the information boards gives a good impression of what life \u2013 and death \u2013 was like for the four years the area was fought over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our visit we drove on to Ypres and met up with our host so he could give us the keys to the apartment<\/a> \u2013 ‘Interbellum’ which I had booked through Booking.com, and show us around, before leaving us to unpack. The two bedroom ground floor flat was close enough to walk into the town square where there was a collection of restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once sorted we walked into the town centre for some food and a few beers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Next morning we walked into town again, to go to the ‘Fields of Flanders’ Museum and spotted some keys on the pavement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, we spotted some keys fixed to the pavement<\/a>. A local resident explained they are memorial keys to residents of Ypres that were killed during the conflict. They are grouped together roughly in the area where they died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Cloth Hall in Ypres now houses the ‘In Fields Flanders’ Museum<\/a>. The exhibits occupy the second floor and there is a wealth of information (lots of reading) telling the story of the Ypres Salient. To take it all in takes some effort \u2013 both Cas and I could have done with a coffee break half-way around, but there’s also a feeling this is a bit of a pilgrimage and that dictates the mood within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose to pay a little extra and add a climb up the belfry tower for views over the rebuilt town. With nearly 300 steps, most of which are in a narrow spiral stone staircase, it takes a bit of effort and I had to rest a couple of times but once up there, the views are the reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s worth remembering that Ypres was just a pile of rubble at the end of WW1, with virtually every building destroyed. It’s nice to see that it wasn’t just the town’s landmarks that were rebuilt to mimic the originals, but many of the residential houses too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ypres needed to be completely rebuilt after the conflict.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the Museum, we found somewhere for lunch then walked to the Ramparts Cemetery to visit the grave of one F J Bending, a Lance Corporal of the Royal Army Medical Corps<\/a> who was killed on 15th March 1915, aged 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Ramparts Cemetery is at the southern end of the old town, on the early ramparts and next to the defensive moats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Ramparts Cemetery in Ypres is relatively small.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After checking the ‘John Bending’ website to see<\/a>, I found that both Bendings we found share common ancestry with me with their ancestors also stemming from the Devon (Ottery St. Mary) Bendings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My ancestors go back to a Robert Bending of Payhembury in Devon, because of the reformation under Henry VIII, records were lost, so this is as far back as can be defined, though there’s evidence that goes back to the Norman Conquest of 1066. The common ancestor to all three \u2013 Frank William, Frederick John and me \u2013 is Robert (1656-1701) of Ottery St. Mary. He had (at least) two sons; Robert and Gilbert. The brothers are ancestors to all three of us. Gilbert was sentenced to death in 1720 for theft of some silver spoons, but he was repreived and instead sent to work as a slave in Maryland, America. After 13 years Gilbert became a free man and married again, even though he was still maried to his wife back in England, but I guess to her, he was dead, though she didn’t remarry and outlived Gilbert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a break back at the flat, we rested weary legs before heading back to the main square to find a bar before having some food. The restaurants and bars around the main square are, as expected, very much geared for tourists, but we managed to find a small bar just off the square where the locals were enjoying some refreshments. Bonus was some track cycling on the wall-mounted TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rain fell as we ate our dinner of steak but all the lights and reflections made up for the soaking on the way back to our beds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next day we drove the short way out to the Hooge Crater, but my research was lacking, as once there, we found it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Still, aside from the main crater, there are four smaller ones that now form a pond within the grounds of a hotel just a little way from the Museum. This is open to the public to wander. Entry is unmanned with an honesty box for the \u20ac2 fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Hooge Craters are just a short way east of Ypres, on a slight rise, which, with it’s elevated views of the town made it strategically important. Note too, Hill 60 to the south east of Ypres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Hooge Craters. Information boards help explain the significance of the area and how it was fought over.
A German built block house. At the other side of the pond is a British built one. This whole area changed hands several times throughout the war, with both sides exploding underground mines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The bridge is a later addition, and all the trees have grown since the war finished, as the the whole area, like so many other WW1 battlefields, was devoid of anything but shattered stumps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shells and the remains of the rails that were used to transport the shells are scattered throughout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Now only sheep \u2013 and the odd visitor \u2013 roam among the remains of the trenches and craters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More shells and, stuck into the ground, barbed wire supports. These had a screw end so they could be inserted into the ground under the cover of darkness without the noise of hammering giving the activity away to the enemy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having wandered the site we headed back to the car for a short drive to the car park at Hill 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the car park, a wooden walkway takes you across the crater of Hill 60 and over the uneven remains of overgrown trenches and shell holes. At a couple of points the German and British lines are marked, only 30 yards apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I stood on the German line and Cas is stood on the British line.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hill 60 was next to a railway cutting and there’s a small green with memorials right next to the present-day bridge over the rail line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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