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
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0.2 MILES
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15.33 MILES
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12.13 MILES
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27.21 MILES
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Langemark Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof
9.42 MILES
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13.18 MILES
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6.9 MILES
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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
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2.85 MILES
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4 MILES
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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…
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