World War One Grave Visits Reach Record High

As the centenary of the start of World War One draws closer, the number of people visiting the war cemeteries in Belgium is higher than ever before.

The most-visited of all is Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world.

Nearly 12,000 servicemen who died in the Great War are buried on the sloping land overlooking the town of Passchendaele, itself the scene of fierce battle.

Some 8,369 of the burials, more than two thirds of the graves, are unidentified, and four Germans were also laid to rest there.

A stone memorial surrounding the north of the cemetery records the names of 35,000 servicemen who died in the Ypres Salient but whose remains were never found.

The cemetery was named by the Northumberland Fusiliers, who thought the nearby pill boxes looked like cottages typical of the North East.