Buffs Road Cemetery
Location
The cemetery is located to the North East of the town of Ieper. From the station turn left and drive along Fochlaan to the roundabout, turn right and go to the next roundabout. Here turn left into Haiglaan and drive to the next roundabout. Here turn right into Oude Veurnestraat, this then changes into Diksmuidseweg and Brugseweg. Drive along this road and continue straight over the traffic lights to the end of the road. At the T junction turn left (still Brugseweg) and continue along this road through the village of Sint-Jan (N313). Follow this road to the end. You come to the junction with the N38, straight across this junction into Hogeziekenweg. After 50 metres the road bends sharply to the left, the cemetery is approx 150 metres after the bend on the right hand side.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.876421 | 2.916580 | Map |
Historical Information
Buffs Road was the name given to a small lane, which ran between Boundary Road and Admiral’s Road, just to the north of the hamlet of Wieltje.
The cemetery was made and used by fighting units (in particular by the 12th, 13th and 14th Royal Sussex and the Royal Artillery) between July 1917 and March 1918, and after the Armistice graves were brought into it (Row EE and part of Row B) from the battlefields and one British officer, who fell in 1915, was brought in from Brielen Churchyard.
There are now 289 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 86 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials to ten casualties whose graves in the cemetery were destroyed by shell fire.
The cemetery was designed by A.J.S. Hutton.
The farm behind is the modern day Mouse Trap Farm
The original position was slightly behind it (to the left of the photo)
Gunner Russell Long 925552
B Battery 290th Brigade
Royal Field Artillery
Died on 2nd October 1917 aged 20
Son of George and Ada Long
of 163 Hale End Rd, Walthamstow, Essex
Native of Barnsbury, London
Grave: E 16
Oh for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still
Private William Smith 545023
15th Bn London Regiment
Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles
Died on 30th March 1918 aged 20
Son of Sarah and the late John Smith
of 18, Rutland Rd, Forest Gate, Essex
Grave: D 45
Whatever is — is best