Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier
Location
Bois Grenier is a small village in the Department of the Nord, about 4 kilometres due South of Armentières. Leave Bois Grenier on the D222 in the direction of Fleurbaix. After 1200 metres turn left following the signs for the Cemetery, which can be found on the right hand side after the farm, approximately 800 metres from the main road.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.639660 | 2.864969 | Map |
Historical Information
The cemetery was begun in March 1915, and used by units holding this sector until February 1918. It contained, at the date of the Armistice, 335 graves; and it was then increased by the concentration (into Rows A to E, the Indian Plot, and parts of Rows J to N) of graves from the battlefields South of Armentières and from other cemeteries.
There are now over 800, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over one-third are unidentified and a special memorial is erected to one soldier from New Zealand believed to be buried in the cemetery.
Another special memorial is erected to an Indian soldier buried in Marquillies Communal Cemetery German Extension, whose grave could not be found on concentration.
The original Rows contain many groups of graves of the same Battalion; and among the concentrated graves are those of some men of the 2nd Royal Scots (in Rows J and K) who fell on the 15th October 1914, and who are not identified individually.
The cemetery covers an area of 3 531 square metres and is enclosed partly by a brick wall, and partly by a low stone curb.
The following were the cemeteries from which graves were brought into “Y” Farm Military Cemetery :
- Croix-Blanche British Cemetery, Fleurbaix (Pas-de-Calais), in a garden by the road leading South-East from Croix-Blanche. It was begun by the 2nd Yorks and the 1st Grenadier Guards, and used from November 1914 to July 1916; it contained the graves of 36 soldiers from the United Kingdom.
- Don German Cemetery, Allennes-les-Marais (Nord) (one Indian grave).
- Doulieu Churchyard (Nord), containing the graves of four soldiers from the United Kingdom, who fell in October 1914, and one from Australia, who fell in 1917.
- Hantay Communal Cemetery German Extension (Nord) (one Indian grave).
- Lestrem Communal Cemetery Extension (Pas-de-Calais), which was made by the Germans in the summer of 1918. They buried in it three soldiers and two airmen from the United Kingdom; and when Lestrem was recaptured a British Plot was made in which 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried.
- Marquillies Communal Cemetery and German Extension (Nord) (three Indian graves).
- Mouvaux Military Cemetery (Nord), used from October 1918, to October 1919. It was in the grounds of the Monastery at Haut-Mont, close to the aerodrome; and it contained the graves of 51 soldiers and airmen from the United Kingdom, one soldier from Canada, and three men of the Cape Coloured Labour Regiment.
- Pont-a-Marcq Communal Cemetery German Extension (Nord), which contained the graves of four soldiers from the United Kingdom and about 150 German soldiers.
- Templeuve Communal Cemetery (Nord), in which one soldier from the United Kingdom and one from Australia were buried by the Germans, with about 200 of their men.