TYNE COT CEMETERY and the TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Zonnebeke
West-Vlaanderen
Belgium
Visit the Tyne Cot Memorial Page - Images of those buried or commemorated here
GENERAL DIRECTIONS: Take the Tourhoutstraat from the market square onto the small roundabout, go right here into Basculestraat, at the crossroads turn left onto Zonnebeekseweg, continue to the village of Zonnebeke, turn left at the roundabout in the direction of Passendale, after 0.5km turn left into Tynecotstraat which is well signed from the main road, follow this road around and the cemetery is on the right.
Access is easy, as is parking, especially now there is a dedicated parking area behind the cemetery, this in turn leads you to the visitors centre. From there it is a long walk down the length of the cemetery to the main entrance.
"Tyne Cot" or "Tyne Cottage" was the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a barn which stood near to the level crossing on the Passchendaele-Broodseinde road. This barn was the centre of six German blockhouses and was captured by the 2nd Australian Division on 4th October 1917, during the advance on Passchendaele. One of these blockhouses was unusually large and was used as an advanced dressing station after its capture. From 6th October until the end of March 1918, 343 graves had been made on two sides of it, by the 50th (Northumbrian) and 33rd Divisions, as well as two Canadian units. The cemetery fell into German hands in April 1918, before being recaptured along with the village of Passchendaele, by the Belgian army on 28th September.
The Cross of Sacrifice, built upon the original German blockhouse
The cemetery was greatly enlarged after the armistice, when burials were brought in from the battlefields surrounding Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few small burial grounds.
This cemetery is now the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world, in terms of burials. At the suggestion of King George V, who visited the cemetery in 1922, the Cross of Sacrifice was placed on top of the original large blockhouse which helped give the cemetery its name.
At the rear of the cemetery is the Tyne Cot Memorial, it commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the UK and New Zealand who fought in the Ypres Salient after 16th August 1917, and whose graves are not known.
This memorial stands close to the farthest point in Belgium reached by Commonwealth forces, until the final advance to victory.
The Tyne Cot Memorial
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VICTORIA CROSS: There are three men buried here who won the Victoria Cross:
Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries, VC, of the 34th Battalion Australian Infantry, killed in action on 12/10/1917, Plot XL. E 1.
Sergeant Lewis McGee, VC, 40th Battalion Australian Infantry, killed in action 12/10/1917, Plot XX. D 1.
Private James Peter Robertson, VC, 27th (Manitoba) Battalion Canadian Infantry, killed in action 06/11/1917, Plot LVIII. D. 26.
Also commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial are:
Lieutenant Colonel Philip Eric Bent, VC, DSO, 9th Bn Leicestershire Regiment, killed in action 01/10/1917.
Corporal William Clamp, VC, 6th Bn Yorkshire Regiment, killed in action 09/10/1917.
Lance Corporal Ernest Seaman, VC, MM, 2nd Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, killed in action, 29/9/1918.
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CASUALTY DETAILS:
UK 8962 Canada 1011 Australia 1369 New Zealand 520 South Africa 90 Germany 4 Total Burials: 11956
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