Talbot House, World War I museum in Poperinge, Belgium
Talbot House is a World War I museum in Poperinge, Belgium, housed in a three-story brick building that once served as a soldiers' club. The rooms preserve their original furnishings with simple wooden beds, a small chapel on the upper floor, and a garden behind the house.
In December 1915, army chaplains Philip Clayton and Neville Talbot opened this house as a retreat for British soldiers seeking respite from the trenches at Ypres. After the war, the building was restored in 1929 and later reopened as a memorial site.
The house carries the name of young officer Gilbert Talbot, who died at Sanctuary Wood in July 1915 and whose memory was preserved in this soldiers' club. Visitors today still enter the same rooms and read the same messages on the walls that soldiers left more than a century ago.
The entrance lies on a quiet street in the town center, a short walk from the market square. The building has steep stairs with no lift, so access to upper floors is not possible for wheelchair users.
On the top floor sits a small chapel with sloping ceilings where soldiers celebrated services during the war and played music on an old harmonium. Handwritten prayers and drawings hang on the walls that visitors can still read today.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
