Buttes New Zealand memorial
Location
Buttes New British Cemetery (NZ) Memorial is located 8 kilometres east of Ieper town centre, on the Lange Dreve a road leading from the Meenseweg (N8), connecting Ieper to Menen.
From Ieper town centre the Meenseweg is located via Torhoutstraat and right onto Basculestraat. Basculestraat ends at a main crossroads, directly over which begins the Meenseweg.
4.7 kilometres along the Meenseweg and after passing the Bellewaerde theme park lies the left hand turning onto Oude Kortrijkstraat. 2 kilometres along the Oude Kortrijkstraat the road crosses the A19 motorway. Immediately after this bridge is the left hand turning onto the Lotegatstraat, which borders Polygon Wood. 800 metres along the Lotegatstraat is the right hand turning onto Lange Dreve. The Cemetery is located 1 kilometre along the Lange Dreve on the left hand side of the road.
There is a parking area for Buttes New British Cemetery, within which is the New Zealand Memorial, and Polygon Wood Cemetery — on the roadside.
| GPS | N | E | OSM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 50.856148 | 2.992208 | Map |
Buttes New British Cemetery
Historical Information
Polygon Wood (the Polygone de Zonnebeke, or Polygoneveld) is a large wood south of the village of Zonnebeke which was completely devastated in the First World War. The wood was cleared by Commonwealth troops at the end of October 1914, given up on 3rd May 1915, taken again at the end of September 1917 by Australian troops, evacuated in the Battles of the Lys, and finally retaken by the 9th (Scottish) Division on 28th September 1918. On the Butte itself is the Battle Memorial of the 5th Australian Division, who captured it on 26th September 1917.
The Buttes New British Cemetery (New Zealand) Memorial, which stands in Buttes New British Cemetery, commemorates 378 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Polygon Wood sector between September 1917 and May 1918, and who have no known grave.
The cemeteries and memorial were designed by Charles Holden.
Looking down towards the memorial from the buttes
