The memory of a renowned First World War poet will live on after a road in a new housing devlopment in the Suffolk village where he lived was named after him.

East Anglian Daily Times: Edmund Blunden was a decorated veteran of the Western Front before becoming a leading war poet and scholar Picture: ARCHANTEdmund Blunden was a decorated veteran of the Western Front before becoming a leading war poet and scholar Picture: ARCHANT

Blunden Close is on the Elms Croft development in Long Melford and has been named after Edmund Blunden.

He moved there in 1964 and would spend the rest of his life there, dying a decade later.

His descendants, including his daughters Lucy Edgeley and Fran Marquand, were invited by developers Kier Living to celebrate the recent launch of the new road.

They spoke about their father and read one of his poems, written in Long Melford about the war, called 'A Swan, A Man', before cutting a ceremonial ribbon.

East Anglian Daily Times: Hall Mill at Long Melford, the home of Edmund Blunden Picture: ARCHANTHall Mill at Long Melford, the home of Edmund Blunden Picture: ARCHANT

Fran said: "We've done a number of things to celebrate our father in recent years, so we were very happy to stop by and honour this new road name.

"We were also happy to discover Blunden Close is the first road you turn into as you enter the development — putting it front and centre."

Edmund Blunden was born in London in 1896. An officer in the Royal Sussex Regiment, he served on the Western Front where he fought at Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele.

He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in 1917 and survived being gassed.

East Anglian Daily Times: Blunden Close in Long Melford is named after war poet Edmund Blunden, who lived in the village in the last years of his life Picture: KIER LIVINGBlunden Close in Long Melford is named after war poet Edmund Blunden, who lived in the village in the last years of his life Picture: KIER LIVING (Image: KIER LIVING)

After the war he began writing and became friends with renowned war poet Siegfried Sassoon and the writer Robert Graves.

He continued to write throughout the 1920s and 30s while also working as a tutor at Oxford University.

Some of his most famous poems include Can You Remember?, Sheepbells, and The Festubert Shrine and he is one of 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

On his retirement he moved to Long Melford.

Kevin Bearne, regional sales and marketing manager from Kier Living said: "We're delighted to celebrate the legacy of Edmund Blunden with this naming ceremony, recognising the poet's links to Long Melford and his impact on English poetry.

"We were also very happy to be joined by his daughters, Lucy Edgeley and Fan Marquand, and members of their family."