Gargoyles and a spiral staircase: the simple wonders of Klein Vierstraat British Cemetery
Klein Vierstraat is a cemetery typical of the IWGC’s approach to design, typical of its mix of uniform and individual hallmarks; a perfect example of the Commission’s founding principles. On the larger side of modest, it contains 805 graves, this cemetery nestles into the landscape about four miles south-west of Ieper, Belgium, near the corner of Molenstraat and Vierstraat.
L-shaped in form, with the upstroke much broader than the base stroke, the main axis of the cemetery runs from the entrance to the Cross of Sacrifice. This creates a stunning panoramic main view; the first of the cemetery’s effects. There’s the village of Dikkebus tucked in its fold over to the right, there’s that of De Klijte up on the rise to the half-left, and twist a little further round the green of Kemmel hill stands out like a forested walnut whip plonked down on the patchwork tablecloth of Flemish fields. The cemetery orients the visitor in the battlefield; the architect invites us to look in and beyond to the fields where the men fought and died.
Although the Principal Architect for Klein Vierstraat was Edwin Lutyens, the detailed work was undertaken by J.R. Truelove. As an ex-officer who had served on the Western Front, Truelove brought his veteran’s eye into his design. For him, the landscape, the land beyond, was clearly as important as what the cemetery contains: the view and the headstones go together. Truelove’s design was partially shaped by the decision of the Belgian authorities to create a new road in the Molenstraat running parallel with the cemetery, negating the need for a grass access path. Transforming this development into an asset, Truelove placed the entrance on an embankment which tapered downwards into the cemetery while maintaining its level as it runs towards the boundary on the Vierstraat. It was this particularity of the ground that allowed Truelove to create such a powerful cross-axis view.
Sitting on this platform, and acting as the orientation and trig point, is the War Stone. From this point on the cemetery’s ‘crest’, the stone exerts its mystical appeal even more powerfully, drawing the visitor towards it. The War Stone then forms the terminal of a second axis, this one running towards the shelter. And it is the shelter which is the architectural glory of the cemetery. Seemingly unobtrusive, at first glance it might not attract much attention, but take another look and the wonder of this little gem becomes obvious. To appreciate it fully, it is best to return to the road and contemplate it from there. From this position, it presents a squat box containing three apertures for light. It is formed by a framework of Euville stone interspersed with panels of rough rubble infill, and topped by a stepped lid roof. Stare at it and it becomes a pillbox, or machine gun position, a feature of no man’s land formed into a Phoenician or Assyrian tomb.
The entrance is formed by two Doric columns tapering in their entasis, suggested by Lutyens in his comments on the design, up to a stark capital carrying a heavy lintel. Within the shelter the three apertures are barred by three remarkable ironwork grilles decorated with a foliage motif suggestive of stripped reeds. Once again Truelove opens up a delicate game with time, as they might be considered stylised barbed wire picquets rooting us in the war he knew and fought. At the same moment, it gives another whiff of the ancient. Is this the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh? Step back out and the eye catches the wonderfully simple and stark gargoyle, matched on the lintel of the tool house which balances the shelter on the boundary wall. Finally, there is the truly amazing linking mechanism between the shelter on its high plinth and the cemetery level achieved through a short stone spiral staircase. To ascend and descend between the levels using this exquisite architectural feature demands care and attention, to step calmly, carefully and reverently, and that seems to have been Truelove’s deliberate intention: he makes the visitor progress reflectively.
To complete the enchantment, less than one hundred metres away is Kemmel No. 1 French Cemetery, another IWGC miniature masterpiece. Designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, it is an essay in the warmth and richness of red brick. The contrast between the two cemeteries, built by the same organisation, and two architects working in the same offices to the same set of principles, is huge, and yet both work, both are unmistakably products of the IWGC. That great trick of such variation within an overarching vision is the wonder of the Commission’s cemeteries and memorials.
Come on a battlefield tour with me and explore those differences and similarities on the ground.
