The cemetery was begun in April 1917 and rows A to H largely represent burials from the battlefield. The remaining graves in Plot I and others in the first three rows of Plot II represent later fighting in 1917 and the first three months of 1918 and the clearing of the village in August 1918. After the Armistice graves were brought in from a wide area east of Arras. The cemetery now contains 1642 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War, but there are special memorials to 14 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.