Architecture

Trenches, dug-outs, barbed-wire entanglements – across 150 countries, the makeshift architecture of the battlefields has made way for a more enduring tribute to the Commonwealth casualties of war.

From a single poet’s grave on the Isle of Skyros to a cemetery in Belgium with over 11,000 burials, the Commission maintains over a million war graves as well as hundreds of memorials honouring the 750,000 war dead who have no known grave.

Influences
Structural design has always played an important part in the Commission’s cemeteries. Since our inception, we have worked closely with distinguished architects and sculptors to ensure that our sites are lasting and dignified tributes to the Commonwealth soldiers who died during the First and Second World Wars.

Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Reginald Blomfield, Sir Herbert Baker and Charles Holden laid the foundations for the use of classical renaissance design in the Commission’s building work prior to 1938. These principal architects were predominantly active in Belgium and Northern France, where their work is complemented by C.S. Jagger’s rugged and realistic sculptures of soldiers, the stone figures carved by Eric Kennington and a specially commissioned font created by Macdonald Gill which is used for all headstone inscriptions.

Mirroring these early classical influences, Sir Robert Lorimer, Sir John Burnet and Edward Warren were responsible for the design of the Commission’s cemeteries in countries from Italy to Iraq.

Under the guidance of architects including Sir Hubert Worthington, Philip Hepworth and Sir Edward Maufe, additional cemeteries were built following the Second World War.

The Commission has always believed in honouring all casualties equally, without distinction on account of rank, race or creed. For this reason, the design of buildings and memorials follows a fairly uniform style.

Cemetery features
Stone walls and wrought-iron gates are a common feature on the perimeter of the Commission’s cemeteries. At larger sites, you’ll also find a shelter building where you’ll be able to read an account of conflicts in the area and a history of the cemetery. In all but the smallest cemeteries, there is a register box containing an inventory of the burials and a plan of the plots and rows.

Materials that evoke simplicity, respect and permanence are favoured by the Commission’s sculptors and architects, who combine stone, iron and bronze with brickwork, joinery, steel and concrete in their designs.

Structures
In any cemetery with over 40 graves, you can find The Cross of Sacrifice, designed by the architect Reginald Blomfield to represent the faith of the majority. By using a simple cross embedded with a bronze sword and mounted on an octagonal base, Blomfield hoped to, in his words, ‘keep clear of any of the sentimentalities of Gothic’.

Cemeteries with over 1,000 burials have a Stone of Remembrance, designed by Lutyens to commemorate those of all faiths and none. The geometry of the structure was based on studies of the Parthenon and steers purposefully clear of shapes associated with particular religions.

Graves
Individual graves are marked by uniform headstones, differentiated only by their inscriptions: the national emblem or regimental badge, rank, name, unit, date of death and age of each casualty is inscribed above an appropriate religious symbol and a more personal dedication chosen by relatives. Where there is risk of earth movement, graves are marked instead by bronze plaques on low pedestals.

Working today
Even the most durable materials require a little maintenance – especially when they’re used in constructions that are nearly 100 years old. Climate change, pollution and vandalism all take their toll on the built environment.

From radical reconstruction to replacing memorial panels, conservation and maintenance is an ongoing task. Structural renovation projects can involve anything from reroofing buildings to devising new access or drainage systems, while headstones, memorials and sculptures are kept in good order by regular cycle maintenance. To ensure quality materials and craftsmanship remain a priority, the Commission employs specialist masons and runs its own workshops where many of the replacement headstones are made.