White House Cemetery, St. Jean-Les-Ypres

Country Belgium
Total identified casualties 852 Find these casualties
Region West-Vlaanderen
Identified casualties from First & Second World War
GPS Coordinates Latitude: 50.86172, Longitude: 2.89923

Location information

The Cemetery is located north-east of Ieper on the Brugseweg (N313) in the direction of Roeselare/Brugge. From the Grote Markt in Ieper take the road called Korte Torhoutstraat and at the end turn left into Lange Torhoutstraat, follow this road over the roundabout into Kalfvart and continue to the traffic lights. At the traffic lights turn right into Brugseweg and the cemetery is along here on the left before the village of St.Jan.

Visiting information

ARRIVAL

The cemetery is signposted.

PARKING

There is a parking area to the front of the cemetery with less than 10 metres to both the main and alternate entrances. The ground is firm and flat with a compacted gravel surface.

Additional parking is available at the side of the road with space for multiple vehicles.

The ground is firm and flat, with a tarmac surface.

ACCESS LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE

The cemetery is large, roughly square, bound by a low-level brick boundary wall. The site is made up of 2 levels; an upper section at the same level as the entrance and a lower level, where the majority of burials are located. There are steps leading down to the lower level in two locations.

There are 2 entrances along the front wall of the cemetery, both providing access from the parking area.

In front of the main gate is a slightly raised (25 mm) semicircular paved area. The main gate paved area is 50 mm above this paving.

The main gate is 100cm wide, mid-level, (waist height), black metal and opens by lifting a latched handle on the left side of the gate. The gate opens inwards into the cemetery.

The Cross of Sacrifice is at the rear of the cemetery, at the furthest point from the from the main entrance.

The Stone of Remembrance is immediately inside the cemetery to the right of the main entrance.

Access to the lower part of the cemetery is via 4 steps down to the left of the main entrance just inside the gate.

An additional set of semicircular steps, near the Cross of Sacrifice leads down near the rear of the site.

There is a ramp down from the upper to lower sections of the cemetery next to the tool store, located in the far-left corner of the cemetery.

The boundary of the upper and lower level of the cemetery is white stone paving along the top of the low brick wall. There is a drop of 400 mm along the entire length of the wall to the lower part of the cemetery.

The Register Box is located at the main entrance on the inside wall.

There is a stone bench seating area just inside the main entrance, facing the Stone of Remembrance. The bench is on the upper section of the cemetery, with a drop to the lower part of the cemetery immediately behind.

All internal paths are grass, the ground is flat and firm.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

There is an opening in the brick wall along the front of the cemetery at the opposite end to the main entrance. The gap is 115 centimetres wide and has a stone paving slab between the wall opening. This offers step free access to the upper part of the cemetery.

The entrance opens onto grass from the parking area.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery is permanently open.

Download Cemetery Plan

History information

White House Cemetery was begun in March 1915 and used until April 1918 by units holding this part of the line. It then comprised most of the present Plots I and II; but after the Armistice these Plots were completed, and III and IV added, when graves were brought in from the battlefields around Ypres (now Ieper) and from a number of small burial grounds, including the following:-

BASSEVILLE FARM GERMAN CEMETERY, ZANTVOORDE, on the Zantvoorde-Zillebeke road, where five soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in November, 1914.

BAVARIA HOUSE CEMETERY, YPRES, at an Advanced Dressing Station near Verlorenhoek and close to the Potijze-Zonnebeke road. Here were buried, in September-November, 1917, 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom, four from Canada, four from Australia, three from New Zealand and one from the West Indies.

BEDFORD HOUSE CEMETERY, ENCLOSURE No.1, ZILLEBEKE, on the East side of the Ypres-St. Eloi road. In this, the oldest of the five Bedford House "Enclosures," ten French soldiers were buried in 1914 and 1915, and 14 soldiers from the United Kingdom in 1915 and 1917.

COTTAGE GARDEN CEMETERY, ST. JEAN, close to the main street of the village. Here were buried, in 1914-1915, 44 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada.

GREEN HUNTER CEMETERY, VLAMERTINGHE, close to the cabaret "In den Groenen Jager," a little West of the Vlamertinghe-Voormezeele road. Twenty soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried here in 1915 and 1918.

HENGEBAERT FARM CEMETERY, DICKEBUSCH, 600 metres North of Dickebusch village, where 16 soldiers from Australia and ten (all R.F.A.) from the United Kingdom were buried in 1915-1917.

NORTH BANK CEMETERY, VOORMEZEELE, (also called Lankhof Cemetery), between Lankhof Farm and the canal. In this cemetery, which was completely destroyed, eleven Canadian soldiers were buried in April and May, 1916.

WILDE WOOD CEMETERY, ZONNEBEKE, a little North of the Ypres-Roulers railway line, where 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried in July-September, 1917.

There are now 1,163 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 322 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 16 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 28 casualties who were buried in other cemeteries, but whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery also contains eight Second World War burials, all dating from May 1940.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.