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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Prior to the Burial Acts of 1852 (London) and 1853 (Provinces), most people were buried in church graveyards. The Act of 1853 gave local authorities powers to run their own cemeteries. The Drake Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery set within the green fields of Hay Farm at the most southern edge of Plympton St Mary, within easy reach of Plymstock. Work started on setting out the first five acres in November 1941. The Company had purchased a total of 37 acres and the work of laying it out was under the supervision of Mr L Alexander, who had considerable experience of these "Gardens of Rest" in America and Canada. The first general manager was Mr F J Alexander. Headstones and memorials are not permitted. Likewise, only two burials per grave are allowed although adjacent sites can be purchased so that whole families can be buried close together. Small stone memorial tablets are laid flush with the ground. It was planned to have 35,000 plots available in consecrated and unconsecrated areas and an agreement of perpetual management was entered in to with the old Plympton St Mary Rural District Council. The Bishop of Plymouth, the Venerable F Whitfield Daukes, consecrated the Drake Memorial Park on November 26th 1942. He was accompanied by the Rural Dean, the Reverend R H Lucas, from Yealmpton. Drake Memorial Park is still in operation. Work started on laying out the ground of Efford Cemetery in 1904. The estimated cost was £5,000. The gates of the 37-acre site at Efford were unlocked on the gloriously fine afternoon of Thursday July 11th 1907 by the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr J F Winnicott. Alderman Cumming declared open the Chapel, where the chief speeches were made. It was announced that the Cemetery had cost £18,710 and that although thirty acres of ground had been acquired, only 7½ acres had so far been enclosed and formally laid out. Space had been provided for 5,175 plots. Doctor Trefusis, the Bishop of Crediton, consecrated the Church of England portion of the Cemetery on Wednesday August 19th 1907, in the presence of the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr J F Winnicott, and a large gathering of clergy, lay readers, Corporation officers and the general public. The crematorium was added in 1934. In March 1941 and again in April 1941 mass burials of those killed in the two Blitzes took place. At the service on the afternoon of Monday April 28th 1941, the graves were draped with Union Jacks and floral tributes ranging from humble posies of primroses to official wreaths and crosses. Those taking part included the Bishop of Exeter, the Bishop of Plymouth, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth and the Reverend W D Campbell representing the Nonconformist congregations. A representative from the Salvation Army was also present, as were Officers from the three Services. The Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Lord Astor, was prevented from attending by illness. Those killed in the Portland Square bomb shelter disaster are buried at Efford Cemetery. In addition, many of those remains removed from earlier burial grounds at Westwell Gardens (St Andrew's Church), Charles Church, Milehouse (Stoke Damerel Church) and the Quaker burial ground in Charles Street have been re-interred here. Efford Cemetery is still in operation and a fee will be charged for making a search of their burial registers. FORD PARK CEMETERY Located adjacent to Ford Park Road, with the main entrance by the Lodge at the junction of Ford Park Road and Central Park Avenue. The western side of this cemetery formed the border of Stoke Damerel/Devonport until 1914. Ford Park Cemetery is also referred to as the Old Cemetery. The PLYMOUTH, STONEHOUSE & DEVONPORT CEMETERY COMPANY was established in 1846 with a capital of £15,000 in £25 shares, for the purpose of supplying an extensive cemetery for the three towns, where the old burial grounds have long been crowded, especially those at the parish churches, and that in Westwell Street. This cemetery is pleasantly situated on a gentle acclivity, about half-a-mile north of Plymouth and about two miles from Devonport, and comprises 10 acres of ground, more than half of which was consecrated by the Bishop on June 5th 1849, for the use of the Established Church, and the rest is appropriated to Dissenters and was first opened in December 1848. The Act establishing the cemetery received the Royal Assent on June 18th 1846. The cemetery was opened on December 1st 1848 and the first interment took place on unconsecrated ground on December 22nd 1848. In 1847-48 the Anglican Chapel was erected. Built of grey Devon limestone, with Bath stone dressings, this was designed by Messrs J R Hamilton and James Medland, of Gloucester. The Chapel has a Grade II listing. Part of the consecrated ground was set aside for the interment of 408 bodies of those who died during the cholera outbreak in 1849. In 1850 the secretary was Mr John Long Colley of 3 St James Place; the chaplain was the Revd William Hacker. A portion of the new cemetery was in due course give over to those of the Roman Catholic faith and on the afternoon of Friday February 20th 1857 it was consecrated with due ceremony by the Right Reverend, the Bishop of Plymouth. Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery (Extension) Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. Ch. lv) received the Royal Assent on June 14th 1875. In 1877-78 the Cemetery was described as being well enclosed and tastefully laid out, with two neat chapels, in the Decorated style, one for the consecrated, and the other for the unconsecrated division. About 8 acres of land adjoining had been purchased by the Company for an extension but was at that time let for pasturage. 'The cemetery forms a pleasant promenade and east of it is a newly made road through the beautiful grounds, called Hyde Park'. Mr Philip James Jory, of 11 Hyde Park Terrace, was at that time the secretary and the chaplain of the Church portion was the Reverend William Hayden Phillips. After many years of becoming slowly run down (the Chapel was deconsecrated back in the 1990s), in April 2000 the Ford Park Cemetery Trust took over the management. Ford Park Cemetery is still in operation. The older burial registers have been deposited at the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Clare Place, Coxside, Plymouth, but are not available for viewing because of their poor condition. However, the Devon Family History Society (SEE "Links Page") has indexed the burials for 1849 to 1870. The Cemetery Trust will charge a fee for searching the more recent burial registers. JEWISH CEMETERY The Jewish Cemetery at Mutley was opened in 1863 and replaced the much older one at Lambhay Hill. MILEHOUSE CEMETERY After a lengthy dispute and an inquiry by a Government inspector, Mr Holland, the Rector of Stoke Damerel Church, the Reverend W J St Aubyn, was ordered by Her Majesty's Privy Council to close the churchyard as it was considered to be full. The Vestry launched an appeal but this was dismissed and the burial ground was closed later in 1871. The Lord of the Manor was approached for a suitable site for a burial ground and an agreement was reached whereby some Glebe land fronting St Michael's Terrace and at Fitzroy Terrace would be exchanged for land owned by the Manor at Milehouse. The Manor land was assessed to be worth nearly £200 more than the Glebe land but his Lordship said that the Church could have the land, ground for ground. He also offered a further £900 towards laying out the new ground, although he was not obliged to. The ground was enclosed by a stone wall on three sides and a hedge on the fourth but when the Rector received the keys to the ground, he refused to accept them saying that the Lord of the Manor had not spent the money he promised. It was found that, in fact, £864 had been expended and his Lordship was prepared to spend the remaining £36 in any way the Rector wished. He even offered a further £100 to make the total up to £1,000. The cemetery was opened in 1871 and consecrated in October 1876. In 1967 the Cemetery was acquired by Compulsory Purchase order for the Central Electricity Generating Board, after many years of neglect as more and more burials took place at Weston Mill Cemetery. The graves were removed and the remains re-interred at Efford Cemetery. Records of burials in Milehouse Cemetery, including some photographs of headstones, at held by the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Clare Place, Coxside, Plymouth (SEE "Links Page"). RIDGE CROSS CEMETERY, PLYMSTOCK The Ridge Cross Cemetery is located outside the City boundary, alongside the road from Elburton to Wembury, just to the east of Staddiscombe. Constructed by the Plymstock Parish Council, the Ridge Cross Cemetery was opened and consecrated at 3pm on Thursday October 30th 1947. The Bishop of Exeter performed the consecration. WESTON MILL CEMETERY The land for Weston Mill Cemetery was purchased in 1899 from Mr Edward St Aubyn, the Lord of the manor, for £25,000. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid on June 16th 1903. The tender for the lodge and other buildings on the site, amounting to £1,572, was awarded to Mr Frederick J Stanbury on January 26th 1904. Weston Mill Cemetery was opened on November 10th 1904. The Church of England plot was consecrated on November 22nd 1904 and the first burial took place on November 26th 1904. By the end of that year twenty-five burials had taken place. This is the site of a large number of Commonwealth War Graves. The burial registers are still held by the Cemetery and a fee will be charged for a search.
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