Sanctuary Wood (Heiligdombos) was named by British troops in November 1914 during World War I, when they used the cover of a forest at this location to tend to their wounded during the First Battle of Ypres, so it was literally a ‘sanctuary’ of sorts for those casualties.

At the end of the battle the front line stabilized and would remain so until the Third Battle of Ypres, when the Commonwealth troops managed to push the front line a few miles into German-held territory. In the Spring Offensive of 1918, however, the Germans pushed the Allies back towards Ypres and Sanctuary Wood was occupied by the Germans until the final battle and the defeat of Germany.

In 1919 the farmer who had owned the land of what became Sanctuary Wood returned to reclaim his property. He decided to preserve some of the British trench system he found. It is one of the very few original sets of World War I trenches left as they were found at the end of the war. Nowadays it is a privately owned museum nearby the Canadian Hill 62 Memorial and the Sanctuary Wood Cemetery.