Dury Mill British Cemetery

Description

The battlefield cemetery was constructed between 5 and 21 September 1918. It lies amidst cornfields and is accessible by way of a grassy path. The large lime trees around the field characterize it from a distance.

A platform with the Cross of Sacrifice, which is a few steps higher than the field, has been added to the field with graves. A bench has been placed directly opposite the Cross of Sacrifice, in a large plant bed. The entrance lies asymmetrically in relation to the central axis with the Cross of Sacrifice and the seat. A wall surrounds the cemetery. It is not very likely that Lutyens paid much attention to this relatively small cemetery.

In the village of Dury there is a second cemetery, Dury Crucifix Cemetery, designed by Goldsmith, Lutyens’ permanent assistant architect. This one, however, was designed without Lutyens’ supervision. Goldsmith adhered faithfully to his master’s principles, and this is shown by the refined elaboration of the buildings in this cemetery. They might just as well be Lutyens’ and are similar to those in the cemetery in Daours, which was designed by Lutyens and Goldsmith. However, the location of the War Stone on the west side instead of the east side is clearly at variance with Lutyens’ design principles. Perhaps there were practical problems with the rather obvious northeast side, as also happened at Dartmoor Cemetery, for example. In this case, a long row of graves had already been established along this side during the war. It remains a moot point why Lutyens left the large cemetery to his assistant and, indeed, seems to have been hardly concerned with the nearby small battle- field cemetery. (Geurst, 2010, p.280)

Bibliography

Geurst, J. (2010) Cemeteries of the Great War by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.

Also Cited In

Listing Grade

Coming soon

Listing Reference

Client

Imperial War Graves Commission