Zillebeke

Zillebeke (also known as Zellebeck) is a village in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium.

On 3 March 1914 the then municipality was granted the arms of the last Lords of Zillebeke, the Canton family, Viscounts of Winnezeele, which had in 1740 acquired the Ancien Régime estate of Zillebeke.

The village was mentioned in the Wipers Times, the most well-known of the trench magazines that were published by soldiers fighting on the front lines of the Great War.

The 1st Battalion of The Irish Guards suffered huge casualties defending the village and playing a major part in stopping the German breakthrough to the Channel Ports between 1 and 11 November 1914 as part of the First Battle of Ypres.

Within Zillebeke Churchyard CWGC Cemetery, which forms part of the churchyard at Zillebeke Catholic parish church, there is a section with war graves of soldiers from aristocratic backgrounds; this plot is called The Aristocrat's Cemetery.