Funeral Service Times August 2017 June 2019 | Page 30

30 CEMETERIES AROUND THE WORLD
Cemeteries
around the world
Funeral Service Times explores a classic war graves cemetery located in Passendale,
Belgium
T
yne Cot, or the Tyne Cot
Commonwealth War Graves
Cemetery and Memorial to the
Missing to give the cemetery its
full name is a Commonwealth War Graves
Commission (CWGC) burial ground for
the dead of the First World War in the
Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is
the largest cemetery for Commonwealth
forces in the world, for any
war, and it is located outside of
Passchendale, near Zonnebeke
in Belgium.
The name Tyne Cot is said to
come from the Northumberland
Fusiliers, seeing a resemblance
between the many German
concrete pill boxes on this site
and typical Tyneside workers'
cottages (Tyne cots). Tyne
Cot CWGC Cemetery lies on
a broad rise in the landscape
which overlooks the surrounding
countryside. As such, the location
was strategically important to
both sides fighting in the area. The
concrete shelters which still stand
in various parts of the cemetery
were part of a fortified position
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of the German Flandern I Stellung, which
played an important tactical role during the
Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.
During the war, the site was captured
by the 3rd Australian Division and the
New Zealand Division and two days
later became a cemetery for British and
Canadian war dead. The cemetery was
recaptured by German forces on
13 April 1918 and was finally liberated by
Belgian forces on 28 September. After the
Armistice in November 1918, the cemetery
was greatly enlarged from its original 343
graves by concentrating graves from the
battlefields, smaller cemeteries nearby and
from Langemark.
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.
The cemetery was designed by Sir
Herbert Baker, with sculptures by
Joseph Armitage and Ferdinand Victor
Blundstone. The Cross of Sacrifice that
marks many CWGC cemeteries was
built on top of a German pill box in the
centre of the cemetery, purportedly at
the suggestion of King George V, who
visited the cemetery in 1922 as it neared
completion.
When visiting the cemetery King
George, said: “We can truly say that
the whole circuit of the Earth is girdled
with the graves of our dead. In the
course of my pilgrimage, I have many
times asked myself whether there can
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