Favreuil British Cemetery

Description

The village of Favreuil lies to the north of Bapaume. It was occupied by British troops in March 1917, lost again in March 1918, and recaptured by New Zealand divisions on 25 August 1918.

The cemetery is situated outside the village in the middle of open fields and is recognizable at a distance by the tall poplars that surround the cemetery. The small cemetery does not have a War Stone and is primarily impressive due to the green layout and the materialization of the entrance and the path across the cemetery.

The shelter stands at the back of the cemetery at the end of the natural stone path. It is typical of the work of assistant architect Cowlishaw, who had created a furore with his work for the CWGC as an Arts and Crafts architect. The craftsmanship of this architectural movement can be seen in the use of hewn stone and the staggered white corner stones reminiscent of traditional English architecture. Cowlishaw repeated this type of shelter at many cemeteries that he designed as assistant architect for other architects, and as the architect of around 250, mostly smaller, cemeteries. Moreover, Cowlishaw succeeded Holden as head of the architectural office of the IWGC in Longuenesse in 1919, and worked there the longest, until 1930. After that, he went to work in Holden’s office for whom he,as an assistant, had designed most of the cemeteries.

The cemetery lies on a level piece of ground surrounded by a wall. The entrance has an unusual design. A row of four posts marks an entrance area that has been cut away from the cemetery field by shifting the wall two metres further toward the cemetery, as it were. The entrance area is traversed by the path that leads to the Cross of Sacrifice. Originally there were natural stone paths at many more cemeteries. However, many of these have been removed because they require much maintenance and they also impede mowing activities.

The Lombardy poplars give the cemetery an ecclesiastical ambience, although without a War Stone in this case. The headstones, like empty church pews, are oriented toward the Cross of Sacrifice on the east side. The H.A.C. Cemetery, six kilometres northeast of this cemetery, is reasonably similar. This cemetery is also surrounded by tall poplars, but these are combined with a shelter and a War Stone. (Geurst, 2010, p.292-4)

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