Restoration of trench Yorkshire Trench and dugout in Ypres has been completed

Yorkshire Trench & Dugout is a historical and archaeological site in Boezinge near Ypres. There is a trench from 1915 and a restored trench with entrances to a deep dugout, an underground shelter, from 1917. It is the only British trench in the Ypres Salient still on its original site and open to the public.

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Due to the changing water levels, one of the entrances to the dugout collapsed earlier this year. As a result, the site was briefly accessible. Various crowdfunding campaigns were set up for the repair work, including campaigns by the In Flanders Fields Museum. A subsidy of 30,000 was also awarded by Westtoer and VISITFLANDERS.

The stairwells were renewed, the information panels replaced, the route of the 1915 trench restored and the route clearly marked for the public. A green management plan has been drawn up together with the City Landscape Service and organization De Groene Kans. The Friends of the In Flanders Fields Museum are still launching a long-term crowdfunding campaign because the 1917 trench could not be fully restored. “The crumbling sandbags limit the accessibility of the trench. Further maintenance work requires a budget of approximately 100,000 euros. Regular maintenance work must be carried out to prevent the accessibility of the site from being restricted again,” it sounds.