Though English troops nicknamed it 'Good old Pops', Poperinge had a more sinister side – it was a place of execution for wartime deserters. Hidden behind a red door in the north side of the stadhuis you can still see the chilling original shooting post and the stone-walled death cell where deserters spent their last night. Brochures in the cell explain in some detail the era’s injustices, accompanied by an audio recounting of the 1917 execution of 17-year-old soldier Herbert Morris.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
21.37 MILES
Inaugurated in 1892, Lille's illustrious Fine Arts Museum claims France's second-largest collection after Paris' Musée du Louvre. Its cache of sublime…
-
6.9 MILES
No museum gives a more balanced yet moving and user-friendly introduction to WWI history. It’s a multisensory experience combining soundscapes, videos,…
-
0.2 MILES
This is an unusually light-hearted WWI attraction. Reverend Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton set up the Everyman’s Club here in 1915 to offer rest and recreation…
-
12.13 MILES
Probably the most-visited Salient site, this is the world’s biggest British Commonwealth war cemetery, with 11,956 graves. A huge semicircular wall…
-
27.21 MILES
Ostend’s most striking historical building features beautifully ornate twin spires, a rose window and a gloomy neo-Gothic interior. It was consecrated on…
-
Langemark Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof
9.42 MILES
The Salient's largest German WWI cemetery is smaller than Tyne Cot but arguably more memorable, amid oak trees and trios of squat, mossy crosses. Some 44…
-
13.18 MILES
The unusual 1950 IJzertoren is built of drab purple-brown brick and topped with power-station-style windows. This colossal 84m-high ‘peace’ tower is at…
-
La Piscine Musée d'Art et d'Industrie
22.31 MILES
An art deco municipal swimming pool built between 1927 and 1932 is now an innovative museum showcasing fine arts (paintings, sculptures, drawings) and…
Nearby attractions
0.15 MILES
The imposing Sint-Janskerk’s ‘miraculous’ little Virgin-and-Child statuette reputedly brought a stillborn child to life in 1479.
0.2 MILES
This is an unusually light-hearted WWI attraction. Reverend Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton set up the Everyman’s Club here in 1915 to offer rest and recreation…
0.24 MILES
Once the municipal centre for weighing and storing hops, the 19th-century Stadsschaal now houses this distinctively scented museum, where you’ll learn…
2.85 MILES
The mythical Westvleteren Trappist beer comes from this isolated abbey in Westvleteren village, 7km north of Poperinge; it's reached via a web of tiny…
4 MILES
Founded in 1946, this brewery in Watou can be visited on guided tours (phone or email ahead, minimum 15 people). Sample its wares in the brasserie. You…
6.46 MILES
The enduring image of poppies as a symbol of wartime sacrifice comes from the famous poem In Flanders Fields. It was written by Canadian doctor John…
8. St-Maarten en St-Niklasskerk
6.89 MILES
Directly behind the Lakenhalle, this vast church was a cathedral until 1797 and was almost totally destroyed in WWI. Reconstruction has beautifully…