Bard Cottage Cemetery
Location
The Cemetery is located on the Diksmuidseweg road (N369) in the direction of Boezinge.
From Ieper station turn left into Fochlaan and go to the roundabout, turn right and go to the next roundabout. Here turn left and drive to the next roundabout, where you should turn right into Oude Veurnestraat. Take the second turning on the left, which is the Diksmuidseweg and carry on under the motorway bridge and the cemetery is another 300 metres on the left hand side of the road.
Bard Cottage Cemetery is the first cemetery on the left, the second being Talana Farm Cemetery.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.876491 | 2.869011 | Map |
Historical Information
For much of the First World war, the village of Boezinge directly faced the German line across the Yser canal. Bard Cottage was a house a little set back from the line, close to a bridge called Bard’s Causeway, and the cemetery was made nearby in a sheltered position under a high bank.
Burials were made between June 1915 and October 1918 and they reflect the presence of the 49th (West Riding), the 38th (Welsh) and other infantry divisions in the northern sectors of the Ypres Salient, as well as the advance of artillery to the area in the autumn of 1917. After the Armistice, forty-six graves were brought in to Plot VI, Row C, from the immediate area, including thirty-two from Marengo Farm Cemetery (this was located a few hundred metres to the south of Bard Cottage, on the same side of the road. It was used from June 1915 to August 1916).
There are now 1,639 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 39 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate three casualties known to be buried among them.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Private Patrick Boland 3282
1/4th Bn Duke of Wellington’s Regiment
Died on 2nd December 1915 aged 30
Son of Patrick Boland
of Hipperholme, Halifax
Grave: I D 22
Lieutenant Arthur Apsimon
14th Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers
Died on 4th August 1917 aged 34
Son of Thomas and Anna Apsimon
of 107, Liscard Rd., Wallasey
Native of Liverpool
Grave: IV A 10
Private Charles Roxburgh 326270
7th Bn Argyl and Sutherland Highlanders
Died on 9th September 1917 aged 24
Son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Roxburgh
of 7, Wellington St., Kilmarnock
Grave: Collective Grave IV G 5
Corporal Edward Eames 1102060
7th Bn Canadian Railway Troops
Died on 14th October 1917 aged 20
Grave: V A 42
Eames originally signed up as Roy Wilson, from Sheldon, Washington, USA in January 1917. He admitted his true identity in September and was killed in action the following month.
Able Seaman Stanley Fisher R/2437
Drake Bn Royal Naval Division
Died on 24th October 1917 aged 20
Son of Francis and Mary Fisher
of 20, Westbourne Park Villas, Bayswater, London
Grave: VI A 37
2nd Lieutenant William Hunter
4th Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Died on 29th June 1917 aged 26
Son of John and Margaret Hunter
of Barn Hill, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
Grave: II I 18