Blauwepoort Farm Cemetery
Lutyens’s involvement in this very small battlefield cemetery, begun by French troops and later taken over by the British, seems minimal, with irregular graves in a chapel‑like walled enclosure focused on an apsidal seat and Cross of Sacrifice, and a standard shelter type added later under Cowlishaw.
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Description
The cemetery is not shown on the IWGC list of cemeteries by Lutyens, but he is referred to as the principal architect on the approval form.93 In view of the meagre size of the cemetery, however, his involvement was probably negligible. Later, a standard shelter was added, similar to shelters at other cemeteries by Lutyens and Cowlishaw, such as Chester Farm Cemetery and Kemmel No. 1 French Cemetery.
It is a battle field cemetery, whose design the principal architects left to the assistant architects. An exceptional feature of this cemetery is that the graves are not arranged according to plan. The cemetery was begun by French troops and later taken over by the British. Because the French graves were removed, there are many open spaces in the cemetery. The graves are surrounded by a low wall. A sitting facility in the form of an apse is situated opposite the entrance and the Cross of Sacrifice, so that the cemetery has acquired the form of a chapel.
The shelter was later added and is a standard type that also occurs at Woods Cemetery, Chester Farm Cemetery, Kemmel No.1 French Cemetery and Divisional Cemetery. (Geurst, 2010, p.222)
Bibliography
Geurst, J. (2010) Cemeteries of the Great War by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.,
