Quéant Communal Cemetery British Extension

Description

The cemetery lies around fifty metres from the road, behind the municipal cemetery on a higher field that can be reached via a stone stairway. From the stairway, a grass strip leads to the entrance on the north side of the cemetery. The Cross of Sacrifice is situated right in front of the entrance, as a central focus in the entrance area between two red-flowering hawthorns.

The ground descends slightly, and this is subtly translated in the design. The central plateau with the Cross of Sacrifice lies at the same elevation as the entrance and two steps higher than the grassy area with the hawthorns. The field with graves lies another step lower and is separated by a band from the plateaux. The graves have been arranged in irregular rows by battlefield units. An extra plant bed has been laid out on the wall side.

The entrance is separated by five posts and four chains that have been placed at unequal distances from one another, thus suggesting a double entrance, in contrast to the situation at Favreuil British Cemetery in Bapaume, for example, where a row of posts was also applied at the entrance. Around the entrance, the wall has been shifted slightly inward. The materialization of the wall, in grey- brown rubble with a central section of flint, is unusual for Lutyens and would appear to have been Goldsmith’s choice. The absence of a white covering band on the wall is also exceptional. (Geurst, 2010, p.391-2)

Bibliography

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

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Listing Reference

Client

Imperial War Graves Commission