Thiepval is a village on the D151 road about 8 kilometres north of the town of Albert. The Cemetery (signposted at Thiepval) is about 1 kilometre north-west of the village on the north side of the D73 road to Hamel. Access to the cemetery, 500 metres from the road, is by a track (suitable for cars).

The German Army took the area around Thiepval at the end of September 1914. It then established a line through the area with troops from its 26th Reserve Division. Men from this Division were still in occupation when Commonwealth forces launched their assault on the 1 July 1916. During this attack, the 36th (Ulster) Division were detailed to attack the German positions north of Thiepval, known as the Hansa Line and the Schwaben Redoubt. Launched from Thiepval Wood, initially their assault was successful and some leading elements even reached as far as the German's second line of defence (Stuff Redoubt). However, by the end of the day, as a result of the units on either side of it failing to take their objectives (in particular the 32nd Division's failure to take Thiepval), it had been forced back to the original German front line. It would take until the 26 September 1916, before Thiepval finally fell to the 18th Division. Thiepval then remained under Allied occupation until 25 March 1918, when it was lost during the great German offensive, but it was retaken on the following 24 August by the 17th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

Mill Road Cemetery (called at one time Mill Road Cemetery No.2) was made during the spring of 1917, when the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg line allowed the battlefield to be cleared. At the Armistice, it contained 260 burials, but was then greatly enlarged when graves were brought in from the battlefields of Beaumont-Hamel and Thiepval and a number of smaller cemeteries.

There are now 1304 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 815 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to three casualties believed to be buried among them and three others buried in Division Road Cemetery No. 1, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Due to extensive settlement of the earth in this area of Mill Road Cemetery , it was decided many years ago to place the headstones in a recumbent position due to the difficulties that were experienced when the headstones were in an upright position. It was discovered that the area around this cemetery was heavily tunnelled during the 1914/1918 war so this would have contributed to the decision that was made to lie the headstones down.