Spoilbank Cemetery

Description

The name of the cemetery refers to the banks of the Ypres- Komen canal. The construction began in February 1915, by battle units, and the cemetery was in use until March 1918. After the Armistice, it was extended with graves from the battlefields around Ypres. Chester Farm Cemetery, also designed by Lutyens and Cowlishaw, lies reasonable close-by.

The broad field with graves is irregular in its layout, with rows of graves that run parallel to one another, but not exactly parallel. Plot I lies next to the road and plot II at a little distance from the road. The entrance has been placed between these plots, with the Cross of Sacrifice directly opposite, on the other side of the cemetery. An attractive round bench has been incorporated in front of a hedge on the short side left of the entrance. There are three pairs of Lombardy poplars that characterize the cemetery from a distance, similar to Voormezeele Enclosure No. 3, Oost- taverne Wood Cemetery, Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery and Ramscapelle Road Cemetery.

A wall surrounds the cemetery, replacing the original hedge. There is a large bed with shrubs to the left of the entrance. The original entrance lay in front of the present entrance, and consisted of a ‘forecourt’ with four benches incorporated in low wall elements of brick and stone, with two low semicircular walls with Lombardy poplars in front. (Geurst, 2010, p.410)

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