Hedge Row Trench Cemetery Explained

Hedge Row Trench
Body:Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Use Dates:1915–1917
Established:March 1915
Designer:J R Truelove
Coordinates:50.8197°N 2.9136°W
Nearest Town:Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium
Total:98
By Country:Allies of World War I
By War:World War I

98

Source:WO1.be

Hedge Row Trench Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located near The Bluff south of Ypres (Ieper) in Belgium on the Western Front.

Foundation

The cemetery, also known as Ravine Wood Cemetery, was founded in March 1915 and closed in August 1917.[1] Being directly on the front line, the cemetery was repeatedly shelled and the original locations of the graves could not be established.[2] The majority[3] of the stones are therefore arrayed in a circle around the Cross of Sacrifice and are marked "known to be buried in this cemetery",[4] with the default additional phrase "Their glory shall not be blotted out", a line suggested by Rudyard Kipling.[5] [6]

The cemetery was designed by J R Truelove. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war.[7]

Other cemeteries on "The Bluff"

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: CWGC :: Cemetery Details. www.cwgc.org. 2008-05-05.
  2. Web site: Wereldoorlog in de Westhook – Hedge Row Trench. www.wo1.be. 2008-05-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20110927231351/http://www.wo1.be/eng/database/dbDetail.asp?TypeID=6&SubTypeID=19&ItemID=5697. 2011-09-27. dead.
  3. The main sources imply that all of the gravestones are in a circle around the Cross of Sacrifice. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission plan of the cemetery, as confirmed by the sources' own photographs, shows that there are also a non-symmetrical number of gravestones against each of the four walls.
  4. Web site: Hedge Row Trench Cemetery. ww1cemeteries.com. 2008-05-05.
  5. Web site: Ypres Salient September 2004. www.ypressalient.co.uk. 2008-05-04. Moore. Steve and Barbara.
  6. Web site: Pro patria mori? . commentisfree.guardian.co.uk. 2008-05-04. Honigsbaum. Mark. November 2007.
  7. http://www.webmatters.net/belgium/ww1_friedhof_vladslo.htm First World War