Location

Bailleul is a large town in France, near the Belgian border, 14.5 kilometres south-west of Ieper and on the main road from St Omer to Lille. From the Grand Place, take the Ieper road and 400 metres along this road is a sign indicating the direction of the cemetery. Turn right into a small road and follow for approximately 400 metres.

The cemetery is on the right and the Communal Cemetery Extension is at the bottom end.

Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension

On leaving the cemetery please note that you are in a one-way system and cannot return directly by the way that you arrived. Follow the road round to the left and then turn right bringing you back up into the town centre.

Note the X road sign as you emerge back into the street: this is a priority from the right junction - traffic on the main road coming from your left should give way.

Historical Information

Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods.

It was a corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918.

The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery.

Along the hedgerow the plots are multiple burials

The cemetery contains 610 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 17 of the graves were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials.

Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

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