Chester Farm Cemetery
In this small battlefield cemetery of hastily laid graves, a post‑war design set the Cross of Sacrifice at the centre of the irregular burial ground, framed by low walls with piers, benches, land‑tablet backrests, and encircling maple trees, with the actual entrance discreetly placed on the east side.
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Description
In this battle field cemetery, the graves were hastily laid out by soldiers during the fighting. After the Armistice, a design was produced to accommodate these graves. The Cross of Sacrifice was placed at the middle of the chaotically arranged field with graves and two entrances are suggested in the wall on the street side, although the real entrance lies on the east side with a gate between two piers. On the south side, the name of the cemetery has been affixed between two identical piers. A seat in the middle of the wall with the land tablets in the backrest reinforces the symmetry. The wall surrounding the cemetery displays a jump in height at the bench, so that one can see that the field with graves is not completely horizontal.
From the entrance, a hardened path ran along the wall to the bench and, from that point, it swung around the Cross of Sacrifice to a second seat on the other side of the Cross. A standard shelter has now been incorporated in the wall at this spot, although this is not shown on the IWGC drawing. Low maple trees surround the space of the cemetery, whereas at the neighbouring Spoilbank Cemetery, Lombardy poplars have been applied to introduce vertical accents. (Geurst, 2010, p.244)
Bibliography
Geurst, J. (2010) Cemeteries of the Great War by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
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