10 Years On: The Flanders Fields Memorial Garden

The Flanders Fields Memorial Garden was established in 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.  Its’ creation took many years of hard work from dedicated individuals. This year, we mark 10 years since the garden’s official opening by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians.

The heart of the garden is the soil in the raised centre bed, gathered from 70 battlefield cemeteries in Flanders where so many lost their lives.  With the support of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, this was the first time this soil had been allowed to leave the cemeteries. In doing so, there is now a corner in London that is forever the battlefields of Flanders – a symbolic mirror to Rupert Brooke’s poem, The Soldier.

“If I should die, think only this of me:

That there’s some corner of a foreign field

That is for ever England.”

Rupert Brooke, The Soldier (1915)

Children from 70 English and Belgian schools worked together to gather the soil, placing them in hessian sandbags of the same material used to reinforce the trenches in the First World War. These sandbags were transported first to the Menin Gate, then by ship on the Frigate Louise-Marie overseas to London. Once in London, they were moved with full military honours by a British Army gun carriage, drawn by King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and escorted by members of the Household Cavalry and Metropolitan Police.

A small amount of earth from each sandbag was put inside a casket to be ceremonially emptied into the bed, with the rest to follow later on. The crosses around the perimeter of the garden bed contain the name of all 70 battlefield cemeteries, together forming a chain that symbolises the closing of the circle and feeling of unity.

Engraved around the bed are words from John McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields (1915). This poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. McCrae served during the First World War at Essex Farm, one of the battlefields from which the soil was collected. During his service, he lost friends and fellow soldiers. His poem is therefore a touching and poignant tribute to those who lost their lives during this conflict.

“In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders’ fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high,

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders’ Fields.”

John McCrae, In Flanders Fields (1915)

From this poem, we are reminded of not only the sacrifices that were made, but also the importance of remembrance – the significance of passing the torch to the generations that follow. This is the core of the garden, a legacy that sits in stone, honouring the fallen for years to come.

This Armistice Day, a commemorative service was held at the Flanders Fields Memorial Garden. It was attended by members of the Household Division alongside others, with wreaths laid on behalf of soldiers of the Commonwealth, the Royal Guild of St Sebastian, and the London Central Garrison.