About

Tyne Cot is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. It lies near the village of Zonnebeke and has 12000 graves. Another 35000 whose bodies were never found or identified are remembered on the Memorial panels at the back of the cemetery, including many Rutlanders. Tyne Cot is said to have been named by Northumberland Fusiliers who thought the German pillboxes in the area looked like workers' cottages back at home. Another theory favoured by some local Belgians is that the name derived from a distortion of the Flemish word for chicken shed, suggesting there was some kind of chicken farm on the ridge. The Cross of Sacrifice is built around the largest surviving German blockhouse supposedly at the suggestion of King George V. In the vastness of Tyne Cot, there is only one Rutland grave. Harry Waters from Tickencote lies in grave XXXV.H.13, at approximately the point where the poppy on the map is placed.

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2 images Some pictures taken during a visit on 12 September '15
By John Stokes on Sunday 6th December '15 at 1:54pm
A Rutlander, living in Belgium
 

Rutland and The Battle of the Somme

More than 90 Rutland soldiers died in the Battle of the Somme which lasted from 1 July 1916 until the middle of November. Today they lie in cemeteries across the old battlefield in northern France or are remembered among the 72,000 names on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. By using our interactive map, you can find out what happened to them.

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