Red Farm Military Cemetery

Red Farm Military Cemetery is a small British war cemetery from the First World War, located in the hamlet of Brandhoek, within the municipality of Vlamertinge near Ypres, in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Covering just 172 m2, it ranks among the smallest British cemeteries on the former Western Front, honouring 49 fallen soldiers.

Where exactly is the cemetery located?

Red Farm Military Cemetery lies about 2.9 km west of the centre of Vlamertinge, in the small hamlet of Brandhoek — a place that, during the Great War, sat behind the front lines near Ypres and served as a rear-area hub for British medical facilities. The proximity to Ypres, one of the most iconic locations of the Western Front, explains why the surrounding countryside is dotted with many similarly small military cemeteries.

Who designed it and what does it look like?

The cemetery was designed by Arthur Hutton, an architect involved in the post-war effort to commemorate fallen soldiers of the Commonwealth forces. The site is enclosed by a brick wall, and visitors reach the graves via a 25-metre grass path. Given its modest size, the cemetery feels intimate and quiet, standing in clear contrast to the much larger war cemeteries found elsewhere around Ypres. Close to the entrance, on the southern side, stands the Cross of Sacrifice — a recurring feature of Commonwealth war cemeteries, symbolising the sacrifice of the soldiers buried there.

Who maintains the cemetery today?

Red Farm Military Cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), the organisation responsible for the upkeep of war graves belonging to soldiers of Commonwealth nations who died in the First and Second World Wars. Thanks to its ongoing work, the site remains carefully tended more than a century after the end of the First World War, with neatly trimmed lawns, orderly rows of headstones, and the clear layout originally set out by Hutton.

Why does this place matter?

The cemetery at Brandhoek forms part of a much larger network of memorial sites surrounding Ypres, each bearing witness to the scale of human loss on the Western Front. Small cemeteries like Red Farm Military Cemetery typically grew up near dressing stations and field hospitals, where soldiers who died of wounds received on nearby front lines were buried. Their modest scale — in this case just 49 graves — stands in contrast to the immense losses of the wider Flanders campaign, while giving each individual site a personal, intimate character.

How can visitors reach the site?

The cemetery is easily reached from Ypres, the main base for visitors exploring Great War heritage sites across West Flanders. Because of its small size and rural setting in Brandhoek, a visit does not take long, but it is worth combining with a stop at other, larger cemeteries and memorials in the region to gain a fuller sense of the scale of events that unfolded around Ypres between 1914 and 1918.

Frequently asked questions

How many soldiers are buried at Red Farm Military Cemetery? The cemetery commemorates 49 soldiers who died during the First World War.

Who designed the cemetery? It was designed by Arthur Hutton and is currently maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Where exactly is the cemetery located? In the hamlet of Brandhoek, about 2.9 km west of the centre of Vlamertinge, near Ypres in Belgium.

What makes this cemetery distinctive compared to others in the area? At only 172 m2, it is one of the smallest British war cemeteries in the Ypres area.