"Y" Ravine runs east-west about 800 metres south of the village, from "Station Road" to what was the front line in July 1916; it was a deep ravine with steep sides, lined with dug outs, and extending two short arms at the west end. The village of Beaumont-Hamel was attacked and reached on the 1 July 1916, by units of the 29th Division (which included the Royal Newfoundland Regiment), but it could not be held. It was attacked again and captured, with the Ravine, by the 51st (Highland) Division on 13 November 1916.
The Newfoundland Memorial Park, and the 29th and 51st Divisional Memorials within it, commemorate these engagements, and "Y" Ravine Cemetery is also within the park. The village was later "adopted", with three others in the Somme, by the City of Winchester.
The cemetery was made by the V Corps in the spring of 1917, when these battlefields were cleared. It was called originally "Y" Ravine Cemetery No. 1, and No. 2 cemetery was concentrated after the Armistice into Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel. There are now over 400 First World War casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over a third are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 53 soldiers (or sailors or Marines) from the United Kingdom and eight from Newfoundland, known or believed to be buried among them. The cemetery covers an area of 1,166 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall.