The town walls and ramparts of Ypres are what is left of the star fort encirclement of the town, designed by Vauban in the 17th century. The northern and western segments were demolished to allow the town to expand in the late nineteenth century while the southern and eastern areas were landscaped and converted to leisure use.
Visiting Ypres Town Walls
The walls are free to enter and open 24/7. There are paths around the entire circuit and benches, litter bins and some information boards too. It’s a lovely area for walking or even cycling or fishing if those are your things. There is a fantastic downloadable PDF guide to the route on the town tourism site here.
My Experience
I’d arranged with Mum to do an early morning walk at 6:30 and we managed a complete circuit of the town, walking along the ramparts from the Menin Gate to the Lille Gate, on through the Ramparts Cemetery and then once the fortifications ended back through the town. The town walk was beautifully clean and it was a gorgeous morning, warm and completely still. The fortifications and water defences, erected in the 1820s, were very photogenic and we saw moor hens and mandarin ducks as we walked around.
In the afternoon Deb and I did the ramparts walk again, this time going on the opposite side of the water defences to the Lille Gate and then returning via the ramparts to the Menin Gate. We were ambling, taking photos and playing Pokémon so it took a lot longer than expected!
It was pleasant to see the area so well cared for and the ramparts were well preserved. I’m not sure of there used to be something similar on the north side of the town but it was destroyed in the First World War.
Ypres Town Walls Photo Gallery
History
The ramparts and town walls of Ypres, as we see them today, are largely the work of Vauban and were started after the French capture of the town from the Spanish in 1678. The star fort design was extended to cover the entire town and sluice gates were added so that the land could be flooded if needed. He instigated the building of casements and tunnels into the ramparts as well as building sites for canon batteries on the bastions.
When the Habsburgs took over the town in 1713 they decided to reduce the defences to save money and had some of the fortifications dismantled. The Austrians were then thrown out of the town after a revolution in 1789.
After the Napoleonic Wars the Dutch carried out extensive improvements to the defences, thickening walls, building ammunition stores and repairing and updating what was there. By the late nineteenth century the walls were restricting growth of the town and the ramparts on the western and northern edge of Ypres were demolished while those on the the southern and eastern sides of the town were left intact and landscaped. During this period the northern and eastern moat was filled in while those in the south and west were expanded for leisure use.
References
There is a comprehensive history of the town and ramparts of Ypres on the GreatWar site here.
There is an interesting audio summary of Vauban’s fortifications here.