BURIAL GROUNDS UK DIRECTORY

Brookwood Military Cemetery

Warwickshire

Location & Directions

Bob Bates,Senior Head Gardener Brookwood Military Cemetery Dawney Hill Pirbright Woking Surrey GU24 0JB

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Contact & Burial Authority

Burial groundBrookwood Military Cemetery

Site addressBob Bates,Senior Head Gardener Brookwood Military Cemetery Dawney Hill Pirbright Woking Surrey GU24 0JB

Operator addressDirector Commonwealth War Graves Commission UK Area Jenton Road Sydenham Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV31 1XS

County or regionWarwickshire

Managing authorityCommonwealth War Graves Commission

Call 01926 330137 Email Burial Authority

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Visiting, Burial Services & Facilities

Available information from the directory source. Confirm current arrangements with the cemetery operator before travelling.

Site opening timesThe cemetery is open every day from 8.00am until 4.00pm, or dusk if earlier, in the winter (1 October - 31 March) and 8.00am until 7.30pm, or dusk if earlier, in the summer (1 April ? 30 September)..

ParkingThere is limited on site parking

Public transportBrookwood Rail Station

Site size37 acres

Additional notesBrookwood Military Cemetery is owned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the United Kingdom, covering some 37 acres. It contains over 5,000 Commonwealth burials (approximately 1,600 from 1914-18 and 3,500 from 1939-45). Surrounding it is Brookwood Cemetery, which is privately owned, and was opened in 1854 when it was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester. The aim was to provide burial space for the London boroughs since their churchyards were full and there was a problem in acquiring land for new cemeteries. It is now the United Kingdom?s largest burial ground with nearly 240,000 people buried there. In 1917, an area of land in this cemetery was set aside for the burial of men and women of the forces of the Commonwealth as well as Americans who had died, many of battle wounds, in the London district. This was further extended to accommodate the graves of Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War, and American, French, Polish, Czech, Belgian and Dutch plots contain the graves of casualties of our Allies. There are also Italian and German plots where prisoners of war lie buried. Adjacent to Pine Avenue, but just outside the Military Cemetery boundary, there lie an Indian plot, containing 28 graves of the First World War, and a Turkish Air Force plot, commemorating 14 members of the Turkish Air Force who were killed during the Second World War. Both these plots are maintained by the Commission. Additionally, the Commission maintains as an agency service on behalf of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, a plot of over 900 graves of Chelsea Pensioners which is situated adjacent to the Military Cemetery. There are also two plots - one British, one Canadian - of post-war service burials within the Military Cemetery which are maintained by the Commission on the same basis. The design of the cemetery is similar to that used by the Commission elsewhere in the world: the large Cross of Sacrifice and the Stone of Remembrance are present, although Brookwood is unique in that it contains two sets of these features. The Royal Air Forces section, containing Second World War graves, is situated in the South-Eastern corner of the cemetery, alongside the cemetery roadway known as Long Avenue. Nearby is the Air Forces shelter building which provides shelter for visitors and houses the Register of the names of those buried in the section. The shelter was designed by Sir Edward Maufe (1882-1974) who was the Commission?s principal Second World War architect for the United Kingdom. It takes the form of a vaulted cloister with three arches at the front and curved wing walls on either side. The structure is in Portland stone with York stone pavings. The RAF badge and motto situated above the centre of the building were carved by Esmond Burton. eet Commission The Brookwood Memorial commemorates nearly 3,500 men and women of the land forces who, during the Second World War, died at sea, in the campaign in Norway in 1940, as members of the raiding parties that set out from the United Kingdom, or as special agents or workers with Allied underground movements and who have no known grave. Designed by Ralph Hobday, the memorial is made of Portland stone and the names of those commemorated are carved on panels of green slate. A separate panel commemorates the loss at sea of 639 members of the African Pioneer Corps, whose names are recorded individually on memorials in their home countries of Lesotho and Botswana. The memorial was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 25 October 1958. The west corner of the cemetery contains approximately 2,400 Canadian graves of the Second World War, of which 43 are the graves of men who died of wounds from the Dieppe raid. A Stone of Remembrance is at the centre of the plot of graves and a Cross of Sacrifice is at the top. The south corner houses the Canadian Records Building, a gift from the Canadian Government. Designed by Sir Edward Maufe and erected by the Royal Canadian Engineers, it consists of a reception room for visitors, a waiting room and other offices. The structure is in Portland stone with a roof of Cornish slates. Esmond Burton carved the Canadian crest of the Maple Leaf with the Lion passant and Imperial Crown, which is set in the centre of the pediment on the east side with the Canadian motto ?A MARI USQUE AD MARE? on the frieze below. Above the entrance to the building is the sculptured figure of a beaver, which was carved by one of the Royal Canadian Engineers. On the walls of the reception room are the coats of arms of Canada and the three Canadian Armed Forces, and their battle honours and Divisional shoulder flashes, all painted by Eleanor Esmond-White. There are national memorials in the French, Polish, Czechoslovak, Belgian and Italian sections of the cemetery. With the exception of the American Military Cemetery, which is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the war graves and memorials in Brookwood Military Cemetery are maintained by the Commission.

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Cemetery Rules & Official Documents

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