History Information (Source: CWGC)

The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War. Maple Copse was the name given by the Army to a small plantation about 900 metres east of the village of Zillebeke, and just west of Sanctuary Wood. The place was used by Advanced Dressing Stations and burials took place there both before and after the Battle of Mount Sorrel in June 1916. However, in that engagement, and in later fighting, the graves were mostly destroyed. The site of the cemetery, on the north side of the copse, was enclosed after the Armistice, but of the graves known to exist there, only a small number could be definitely located.

The cemetery now contains 308 burials and commemorations of the First World War. Of the 78 burials that could be located, only 26 are identified and special memorials commemorate 230 casualties whose graves in the cemetery had been destroyed. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.