In 1917, the Imperial War Graves Commission was established to formalise the cemeteries, burial sites and sporadic places of interment that had been left behind in perpetuity.

In this insightful talk, Tim Godden will explore how a team of junior architects, all former soldiers, undertook this work after the Great War. He will show how, as well as designing beautiful spaces for the fallen, they used this opportunity to create an ever-lasting memorial to both the landscapes and experiences of the war on the Western Front.

Tim Godden is an artist and historian whose work in both fields looks at and is inspired by aspects of the First and Second World Wars. His academic work has explored the Imperial War Graves Commission design project of the 1920s and ‘30s, with a particular focus on the relationship between the wartime and memorial landscapes.

‘A Guiding Point’: Designing British War Cemeteries