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61-468: Poperinge is situated about 13 km (8 miles) to the west of Ypres (Ieper). The region is famous for growing hops and furnishes 80% of Belgian production. The town is home to the national hop museum and is called "hops city", hoppe stad in Dutch, a play on hoofd stad , the word for capital. A triennial hop festival and parade is held in the month of September. The local brew is known as Hommel (which means hops in

122-600: A museum and tourist venue. Branches of Toc H were established in many countries around the world. An Australian branch was formed in Victoria in 1925 by the heretical Rev. Herbert Hayes . Another was formed in Adelaide the same year. Toc H members seek to ease the burdens of others through acts of service. They also promote reconciliation and work to bring disparate sections of society together. Branches may organise localised activities such as hospital visits, entertainment for

183-545: A Latin verse epistle in sapphics dated 1563. Later in the century Maximiliaan de Vriendt , who was born elsewhere, wrote a poem that praised the town and its churches: The Flemish poet Gislain de Coninck, who was born in the town, translated the Latin poems of Charles Wynkius in Himni, Quorum Usus Est In Ecclesiastico Dei Cultu , and the two were published together in 1573. Then in the following century there were two more Latin poets from

244-417: A drop had been spilt, if never a life had been lost in defence of Ypres still would Ypres have been hallowed, if only for the hopes and the courage it has inspired and the scenes of valour and sacrifice it has witnessed. Ypres became a pilgrimage destination for Britons to imagine and share the sufferings of their men and gain a spiritual benefit. After the war, Winston Churchill proposed to leave Ypres as

305-403: A few miles of ground won by Allied forces. During the course of the war the town was all but obliterated by the artillery fire. English-speaking soldiers often referred to Ieper/Ypres by the deliberate mispronunciation "Wipers". British soldiers even published a wartime newspaper called The Wipers Times . The same style of deliberate mispronunciation was applied to other Flemish place names in

366-562: A mausoleum, with the rightful owners to be deprived from regaining their land. By early March 1919, the Belgian scheme was to leave the Cathedral and Cloth Hall and the buildings around them in ruins. By November 1919, the Belgian government was seriously considering two schemes, both of which would have kept the Cloth Hall and the Cathedral in ruins, but one scheme would allow rebuilding houses around

427-517: A month. The house had received significant damage from shellfire, especially the hop loft and the garden. Repairs were begun in September by the Royal Engineers. It opened on 11 December 1915. Clayton decided to steer away from the traditional church club and set up an Everyman’s House. It was named Talbot House in honour of Lieutenant Gilbert Talbot (Neville’s brother) who had been killed earlier in

488-710: A senior Church of England chaplain in the British Army, sought to recruit chaplains who would minister to the battalions on the front lines. One of his recruits was the Reverend Phillip Byard Clayton, who was assigned to the East Kent and Bedfordshire regiments. In 1915 Clayton was sent to France and then on to the town of Poperinge in Belgium. Sitting a few miles back from the trenches around Ypres (nowadays known by its Flemish name Ieper ), Poperinge (or "Pops", as

549-625: A senior army chaplain, and the Reverend Philip Thomas Byard (Tubby) Clayton . Talbot House was styled as an "Every Man's Club", where all soldiers were welcome, regardless of rank. It was "an alternative for the 'debauched' recreational life of the town". In 1920, Clayton founded a Christian youth centre in London, also called Toc H, which developed into an interdenominational association for Christian social service. The original building at Poperinghe has been maintained and redeveloped as

610-624: A spiritual quest in which British and imperial troops were purified by their sacrifice. In 1920, Lieutenant-Colonel Beckles Willson 's guide book, The Holy Ground of British Arms captured the mood of the Ypres League: There is not a single half-acre in Ypres that is not sacred. There is not a single stone which has not sheltered scores of loyal young hearts, whose one impulse and desire was to fight and, if need be, to die for England. Their blood has drenched its cloisters and its cellars, but if never

671-509: Is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders . Though the Dutch name Ieper is the official one, the city's French name Ypres is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper and the villages of Boezinge , Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge , Hollebeke , Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge , Voormezele, Zillebeke , and Zuidschote. Together, they are home to about 34,900 inhabitants. During

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732-518: Is a small city in the very western part of Belgium, the so-called Westhoek . Ypres these days has the title of "city of peace" and maintains a close friendship with another town on which war had a profound impact: Hiroshima . Both towns witnessed warfare at its worst: Ypres was one of the first places where chemical warfare was employed , while Hiroshima suffered the debut of nuclear warfare . The city governments of Ypres and Hiroshima advocate that cities should never be targets again and campaign for

793-470: Is an historic city, and generates significant income from tourism, it also has a number of industrial areas. The biggest one is along the Ieperlee canal, which hosts room for around 120 companies and a wind farm in the north of Ypres. The office area known as Ieper Business Park is connected to the industrial area. That office area started as the site of speech recognition company Lernout & Hauspie , and

854-779: Is an international Christian movement. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House , "Toc" signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in World War I . A soldiers' rest and recreation centre named Talbot House was founded in December 1915 at Poperinghe , Belgium. It aimed to promote Christianity and was named in memory of Gilbert Talbot, son of Lavinia Talbot and Edward Talbot , then Bishop of Winchester , who had been killed at Hooge in July 1915. The founders were Gilbert's elder brother Neville Talbot , then

915-682: The Australian War Memorial in Canberra . In 2017, for the 100th anniversary memorial services of the Third Battle of Ypres, or Passendale , in a joint effort by the Belgian, Flemish and Australian governments, the lions were temporarily returned to the Menin Gate. Exact replicas are now installed, in their original position, guarding the approach to Menin Gate on its eastern side. War graves, both of

976-586: The Canterbury Tales . Some 150 years later John Skelton follows a line in Flemish with the mention that 'In Popering grew pears when parrot was an egg' in his enigmatic poem "Speak Parrot". The poem is an attack on Cardinal Wolsey and the line is taken to refer to his ambition to become Pope. The town has also been associated with several Neo-Latin poets. Jacques May (Jacobus Majus) was born in Poperinge and left

1037-603: The First World War , Ypres (or "Wipers" as it was commonly known by the British troops ) was the centre of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC. It is first mentioned by name in 1066 and is probably named after the river Ieperlee on the banks of which it was founded. During

1098-645: The Middle Ages , Ypres was a prosperous Flemish city with a population of 40,000 in 1200 AD, renowned for its linen trade with England, which was mentioned in the Canterbury Tales . As the third largest city in the County of Flanders (after Ghent and Bruges ), Ypres played an important role in the history of the textile industry. Textiles from Ypres could be found in the markets of Novgorod in Kievan Rus' in

1159-804: The Ypres Salient into the German lines on the surrounding hills. In the First Battle of Ypres (19 October to 22 November 1914), the Allies captured the town from the Germans. The Germans had used tear gas at the Battle of Bolimov on 3 January 1915. Their use of poison gas for the first time on 22 April 1915 marked the beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres , which continued until 25 May 1915. They captured high ground east of

1220-570: The iconoclastic fury of 1566. It was in the consequent fighting and persecution that the town and its trade were finally ruined. Matters were made worse by the wars between the French and the Dutch for control of the region. By the treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 the town passed into French hands and then returned to the Spaniards by the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, before being ceded to the Austrians in 1713 by

1281-515: The treaty of Utrecht . In 1794 it was absorbed by revolutionary France into the département of Lys. Following the defeat of Napoleon it was included in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands , from which Belgium revolted in 1830. Since then Poperinge has repaired its fortunes by concentrating on hop production, the growing of which was first introduced in the 15th century. During World War I ,

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1342-629: The Allied retreat to Dunkirk. Adolf Hitler (later Chancellor of Germany ) fought at Ypres in the First World War and later visited the town during the Battle of France . On 12 February 1920, King George V awarded the Military Cross to the City of Ypres, one of only two awards of this decoration to a municipality during World War I, the other being to Verdun . In May 1920 Field Marshal French presented

1403-561: The Allied side and the Central Powers, cover the landscape around Ypres. The largest number of dead are at Langemark German war cemetery and Tyne Cot Commonwealth war cemetery . The countryside around Ypres is featured in the famous poem by John McCrae , In Flanders Fields . Saint George's Memorial Church commemorates the British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the five battles fought for Ypres during First World War. Though Ypres

1464-590: The Cross in a special ceremony in the city, and in 1925 it was added to the city's coat of arms, along with the French Croix de Guerre . Historian Mark Connelly states that in the 1920s, British veterans set up the Ypres League and made the city the symbol of all that they believed Britain was fighting for and gave it a holy aura in their minds. The Ypres League sought to transform the horrors of trench warfare into

1525-551: The First World War heritage in and around Ypres. On September 6, 1944, the 1st Polish Armoured Division liberated the town of Ypres after four years of occupation, and the nightly ' Last Post ' ceremony was resumed at the Menin Gate ; the Germans had forbidden the ceremony when they occupied Ypres in 1940; from January 1941 until the liberation, the daily commemoration took place in Brookwood Military Cemetery . After

1586-673: The French to capture the city in the 1794 Siege of Ypres during the War of the First Coalition . In 1850, the Ypresian Age of the Eocene Epoch was named on the basis of geology in the region by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont . Ypres had long been fortified to keep out invaders. Parts of the early ramparts, dating from 1385, still survive near the Rijselpoort (Lille Gate). Over time,

1647-492: The Gate. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick , was unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927. It was built and is maintained by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission . The memorial's location is especially poignant, as it lies on the eastward route from the town, which Entente soldiers would have taken heading towards the fighting – many never to return. Every evening since 1929, at precisely eight o'clock, traffic around

1708-624: The Grand Place, whereas the other would have created a belt of trees surrounding the Hall and Cathedral. By early September 1920, the decision had been made by the British Government that the Menin Gate and its immediate surroundings would be used as a memorial, by which time, the Belgians had already begun to rebuild the area. In the 100th anniversary period more attempts were being made to preserve

1769-615: The West Flanders dialect). The carillon in the tower of the town's oldest church, Sint-Bertinuskerk, was noted as one of the most beautiful in Flanders in medieval times. It was destroyed during wartime in 1677 and restored in 1781. In addition to the town centre of Poperinge, the municipality also comprises the submunicipalities (so-called " deelgemeenten ") of Krombeke, Proven , Reningelst , Roesbrugge-Haringe and Watou. The hamlets of Abele and Sint-Jan-Ter-Biezen are also located within

1830-553: The Ypres area for the benefit of British troops, such as Wytschaete becoming "White Sheet" and Ploegsteert becoming "Plug Street". Ypres was one of the sites that hosted an unofficial Christmas Truce in 1914 between German and British soldiers. During World War Two, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) would fight the Germans in a delaying action at the Ypres-Comines Canal , one of the actions that allowed

1891-453: The abolition of nuclear weapons. Ypres hosts the international campaign secretariat of Mayors for Peace , an international Mayoral organization mobilizing cities and citizens worldwide to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020. The imposing Cloth Hall was built in the 13th century and was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages. The structure which stands today is

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1952-474: The belief that this would get rid of evil demons. Today, this act is commemorated with a triennial Cat Parade through town. During the Norwich Crusade , led by the English bishop Henry le Despenser , Ypres was besieged from May to August 1383, until French relief forces arrived. After the destruction of Thérouanne , Ypres became the seat of the new Diocese of Ypres in 1561, and Saint Martin's Church

2013-554: The concise guidebook Clayton compiled for its visitors, we learn why precisely these objects had to be taken home, and why they would return to Poperinge in 1929. The spirit of friendship fostered at Toc H across social and denominational boundaries inspired Clayton, the Rev. Dick Sheppard and Alexander Paterson to set out in 1920 what became known as the Four points of the Toc H compass : This followed

2074-593: The early 12th century. In 1241, a major fire ruined much of the old city. The powerful city was involved in important treaties and battles, including the Battle of the Golden Spurs , the Battle at Mons-en-Pévèle, the Peace of Melun , and the Battle of Cassel . The famous Cloth Hall was built in the 13th century. Also during this time cats, then the symbol of the devil and witchcraft, were thrown off Cloth Hall, possibly because of

2135-473: The earthworks were replaced by sturdier masonry and earth structures and a partial moat . Ypres was further fortified in the 17th and 18th centuries while under the occupation of the Habsburgs and the French. Major works were completed at the end of the 17th century by the French military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban . Ypres occupied a strategic position during the First World War because it stood in

2196-424: The exact copy of the original medieval building, rebuilt after the war. The belfry that surmounts the hall houses a 49-bell carillon . The whole complex was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. The Gothic -style Saint Martin's Cathedral , built in 1221, was also completely reconstructed after the war, but now with a higher spire. It houses the tombs of Jansenius , bishop of Ypres and father of

2257-467: The heavy fighting still underway in other parts of the town. The Last Post ceremony was, instead, hosted daily at Brookwood Military Cemetery in England for the duration of that period. The stone lions bearing the Ypres coat-of-arms, which once flanked the original gate , were presented to Australia in 1936 by the people of Belgium, as acknowledgement of Australia's sacrifice during the war. They now reside in

2318-599: The imposing arches of the Menin Gate Memorial has been stopped while the " Last Post " is sounded beneath the gate by the buglers of the Last Post Association in honour of the memory of British Empire soldiers who fought and died there. During the Second World War the ceremony was prohibited by the occupying German forces, but was resumed on the very evening of liberation – 6 September 1944 – notwithstanding

2379-474: The large Allied casualty clearing stations located in the area. Poperinge railway station is the terminus of Belgian railway line 69 , which used to continue to Hazebrouck in France until the 1950s. It has an hourly service, IC-04, to Kortrijk and Antwerpen . Poperinge is mentioned by two major English poets. Geoffrey Chaucer makes it the birthplace of his Flemish knight in " The Tale of Sir Thopas " from

2440-474: The largest, best-known, and most costly in human suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July to 10 November 1917, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ), in which the British, Canadian, ANZAC , and French forces recaptured the Passchendaele Ridge east of the city at a terrible cost of lives. After months of fighting, this battle resulted in nearly half a million casualties to all sides, and only

2501-601: The long border is also close to many French municipalities. Archaeological finds in the area date local habitation back to the Neolithic period. Under the Romans a link was made to it from the road between Cassel and Aardenburg . In the time of the Franks it appeared under the name Pupurningahem and was made subject to the ecclesiastical benefice of Saint Omer in the mid-7th century. The Count of Flanders, Dietrich of Alsace , granted

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2562-608: The long time and effort it had taken him to capture Tournai and apprehension of disease spreading in his army in the poorly drained land around Ypres (see Battle of Malplaquet ). In 1713 it was handed over to the Habsburgs, and became part of the Austrian Netherlands . In 1782 the Habsburg Emperor Joseph II ordered parts of the walls torn down. This destruction, which was only partly repaired, made it easier for

2623-420: The memorial at Tyne Cot , a site which marks the farthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery . The Menin Gate records only soldiers for whom there is no known grave. As graves are identified, the names of those buried in them are removed from

2684-443: The municipality, but they do not have the status of "deelgemeente", since they were not independent municipalities before the mergers of municipalities which took place in Belgium in the 1970s. Roesbrugge-Haringe actually comprises two separate villages, Roesbrugge and Haringe. The hamlet of Abele is located on the border with France and partially lies on French territory. The municipality borders many rural villages, and because of

2745-588: The original Talbot House. Toc H runs schools in India such as Toc-H Public School . In 2004 it was reported that Toc H had decided to invest in an academy school in Bradford , England. The then chief executive, Geoff Smith , said that the academy would reflect the charity's commitment to community building. It was opened in 2008 by John Sentamu , the Archbishop of York . At the outbreak of World War I Neville Talbot ,

2806-465: The path of Germany's planned sweep across the rest of Belgium and into France from the north (the Schlieffen Plan ). The neutrality of Belgium, established by the First Treaty of London , was guaranteed by Britain; Germany's invasion of Belgium brought the British Empire into the war. The German army surrounded the city on three sides, bombarding it throughout much of the war. To counterattack, British, French, and allied forces made costly advances from

2867-526: The religious movement known as Jansenism , and of Robert of Bethune , nicknamed "The Lion of Flanders", who was Count of Nevers (1273–1322) and Count of Flanders (1305–1322). The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing commemorates those soldiers of the British Commonwealth – with the exception of Newfoundland and New Zealand – who fell in the Ypres Salient during the First World War before 16 August 1917 and who have no known grave. United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on

2928-402: The residents of care homes and organising residential holidays for special groups. The organisation suffered a progressive decline in membership and closure of branches during the later 20th century. In 2008, continued operation was ensured by dispensing with paid staff. In the 21st century, Toc H trustees have planned for it to become a stronger, voluntary movement still guided by the ethos of

2989-399: The restriction. Their resistance during this period gained them the nickname of keikoppen (cobble-heads), a term first recorded in 1341, when the Ypres militia took revenge on the town. During the disturbances associated with the Hundred Years War , Poperinge suffered from the shifting allegiances of the Counts of Flanders and their commercial consequences. When they supported the French,

3050-404: The soldiers called it) was a busy transfer station where troops on their way to and from the battlefields of Flanders were billeted. Clayton, universally known as "Tubby", was instructed by Neville Talbot to set up some sort of rest house for the troops. Clayton chose the Coevoet house – temporarily vacated by its owner, a wealthy local hop merchant – to use as his base, paying rent of 150 francs

3111-500: The sophisticated French-speakers of Brussels look down on the rustic Poperinghe of their Flemish compatriots. In the following century, the town is the subject of the imagist night piece "Poperinghe 1917" by the Canadian poet W. W. E. Ross . Poperinge is twinned with: Ypres Ypres ( / ˈ iː p r ə / EE -prə , French: [ipʁ] ; Dutch : Ieper [ˈipər] ; West Flemish : Yper ; German : Ypern [ˈyːpɐn] )

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3172-515: The town a charter in 1147 at the request of the abbot. From this time it began to thrive as a cloth-making centre and, in order to accommodate the growing population, the churches of Saint John and of Our Lady were added in 1290 to the already existing Sint-Bertinuskerk. In 1322 Louis de Nevers forbade cloth-making outside Ypres, which led the citizenry to join a revolt against him the following year. Nor did they ever submit to this restraint on their prosperity and were forever finding new ways to evade

3233-471: The town hall, where two death cells are preserved, and outside in the courtyard, where there is a public execution post used by firing squads . Another reminder is the location of a number of military cemeteries on the outskirts of the town with the graves of Canadian, British, Australian, French, German, US servicemen and men of the Chinese Labour Corps. One of these is Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery for soldiers who had been wounded near Ypres and later died in

3294-399: The town was one of only two in Belgium not under German occupation. It was used to billet British troops and also provided a safe area for field hospitals. Known familiarly as "Pop", it was just behind the front line and formed an important link for the soldiers and their families, especially through the rest house known as Talbot House (or " Toc H "). A grim reminder of that time remains within

3355-437: The town, Joannes Bartholomaeus Roens and Petrus Wenis (1648-1726). Wenis published Gheestelycken nachtegael (The Spiritual Nightingale, 1698) on the miracle that restored a still-born child to life in 1479, an event associated with the statue of Our Lady in Sint-Janskerk that is still celebrated. In modern times, the town was referred to in one of the epigrams in Charles Baudelaire 's Amœnitates Belgicæ . In “Une Béotie belge”

3416-399: The town. The first gas attack occurred against Canadian, British, and French soldiers, including both metropolitan French soldiers as well as Senegalese and Algerian tirailleurs (light infantry) from French Africa. The gas used was chlorine . Mustard gas , also called Yperite from the name of this town, was also used for the first time near Ypres, in the autumn of 1917. Of the battles,

3477-430: The war the town was extensively rebuilt using money paid by Germany in reparations , with the main square, including the Cloth Hall and town hall, being rebuilt as close to the original designs as possible (the rest of the rebuilt town is more modern in appearance). The Cloth Hall today is home to In Flanders Fields Museum , dedicated to Ypres's role in the First World War and named for the poem by John McCrae . Ypres

3538-427: The wool trade with England was interrupted. In the course of the consequent revolt, the town was sacked and burned by French troops in 1382. Then in 1436 it suffered the same fate from an English army. In 1513, at a time of declining prosperity, much of the town was again destroyed by fire, and then in 1563 the same happened again. During this period Poperinge was stirred up to support the Protestant cause and took part in

3599-402: The year. Talbot House soon became known by its initials TH, and then, in the radio signalers’ phonetic alphabet of the day as Toc Aitch. The focus of religious services and devotions was a chapel created in the attic, known as the "Upper Room". After the war's end, in 1918, the interior of the Chapel was sent to London, and temporarily displayed in the crypt of All Hallows-by-the-Tower . From

3660-413: Was elevated to cathedral. On 25 March 1678, Ypres was conquered by the forces of Louis XIV of France . It remained French under the Treaty of Nijmegen , and Vauban constructed his typical fortifications that can still be seen today. During the War of the Spanish Succession , the Duke of Marlborough in 1709 intended to capture Ypres, at the time a major French fortress, but changed his mind owing to

3721-631: Was named "Flanders Language Valley" (mimicking Silicon Valley ), until the company went bankrupt. Since then, the office area had many difficult years, where a big share of the offices were unused. However, those years are mostly over, and currently, the area offers about 1000 employees a job. Then there are also various other, smaller industrial areas like the area around Picanol in the south of Ypres. Ieper railway station run by NMBS has hourly trains to Kortrijk . It can also be accessed from Brussels, linking to Eurostar, and takes about 75 minutes with two stops. Toc H Toc H (also TH )

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