Ford Park Cemetery

Coordinates: 50°22′59″N 4°8′36″W / 50.38306°N 4.14333°W / 50.38306; -4.14333

Ford Park Cemetery

The Victorian chapel in the cemetery
Details
Established 1846
Location Plymouth, Devon, England
Type public
Owned by Ford Park Cemetery Trust
Size 34.5-acre (140,000 m2)
Number of graves about 250,000
Website Ford Park Cemetery Trust
Find a Grave Ford Park Cemetery

Ford Park Cemetery is a 34.5-acre (140,000 m2) cemetery in central Plymouth, England, established by the Plymouth, Stonehouse & Devonport Cemetery Company in 1846 and opened in 1848.[1] At the time it was outside the boundary of the Three Towns and was created to alleviate the overcrowding in the churchyards of the local parish churches.[1] Its official name at the time of inception was The Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery (renamed in 2000),[2] although it is now seldom referred to by that title.

The cemetery was originally 18 acres (73,000 m2) in size, but a further 16.5 acres (67,000 m2) were added in 1875.[3] It came into use during one of the largest outbreaks of cholera in the country and during its first year it saw over 400 burials related to that disease.[3] During Victorian times it was the main cemetery for the Three Towns,[4] and it is estimated that approximately a quarter of a million people are buried within its grounds.[5] The older burial records have been deposited with the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.

Among the more famous graves is that of the Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker, the author of The Song of the Western Men. As at November 2016 there are 769 war graves from the First World War, over 200 of which are in a dedicated naval plot; and 198 war graves of the Second World War (including an unidentified airman) are scattered throughout the site.[6] A Victoria Cross (VC) recipient of the Crimean War, Captain Andrew Henry, Royal Artillery, is buried here, as is another VC recipient, of the Taiping Rebellion, Quartermaster George Hinckley, Royal Navy.[7]

The Victorian chapel building designed by J.R. Hamilton and James Medland[3] is Grade II listed,[8] as is the older burial area nearest the chapel including a large circular vault. Until one was severely damaged by enemy air attack during World War II, there was a second (identical) non-conformist chapel to the right of the unscathed Anglican building. Both are shown, together with the then abutting farmland and the playing fields of Plymouth College in a well known 1889 photograph now in the Francis Frith collection under the title 'Plymouth, the cemetery 1889'. Along the north-east side is the connected but walled-off Plymouth Jewish Cemetery.[9]

During the 1970s and 80s, poor management, a loss of revenue because few people were paying for the maintenance of plots, and the popularity of cremation, all led to the dilapidation of the site.[10] In January 1988, seventeen-year-old Patricia Hicks was murdered in the overgrown cemetery.[11] After the original cemetery company went into liquidation and after much public debate, in 2000 a trust was set up which reopened the cemetery,[4] made dangerous structures safe, cleared the undergrowth, obtained renovation grants and created a walking trail around some of the graves of notable people.[4] The older of the two chapels which is shown above right in a photograph of its unrestored state has now been fully restored and refurbished as a setting for all varieties of religious or secular funeral or memorial services and is also used for concerts and other events.

The cemetery is a member of the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe and the trust was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2005.[3] As at 2009, there are further plans for numerous works to restore and improve various parts of the cemetery, aided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, including the renovation of the Anglican chapel,[12] and provision of a memorial to the civilian dead of World War Two.[8] It is estimated there are over 10,000 usable grave spaces remaining in the cemetery.[4] The cemetery has rapidly become popular again as an attractive convenient and semi-rural setting close to the city centre and the densely populated but fashionable Victorian and Edwardian suburbs.

The City of Plymouth has two large early twentieth century municipal cemeteries at Weston Mill and Efford, each with chapels and now crematoria and the Drake Memorial Garden is near Elburton.

References

  1. 1 2 Moseley, Brian (26 September 2013) [10 April 2008]. "Cemeteries and Crematoria". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Plymouthdata. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Moseley, Brian (1 September 2013). "Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Ford Park Cemetery Trust". National Federation of Cemetery Friends. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Trail highlights Victorian past". BBC Devon. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  5. ↑ "House sale is a grave undertaking". BBC. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Ford Park Cemetery (formerly Plymouth Old Cemetery) (Pennycomequick)". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  7. ↑ Burial Locations VC Holders, Devonshire.
  8. 1 2 "Last push for Ford Park Cemetery funding". The Herald. this is Plymouth.co.uk. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2008. (Archived here.)
  9. ↑ CWGC Cemetery report, Plymouth Jewish Cemetery (which contains 4 Commonwealth war graves). See Googlemap.
  10. ↑ Geddes, Stuart (11 April 2008). "Bringing life back to a Plymouth cemetery". BBC Devon. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  11. ↑ "Graveyard Death Charge". Evening Times. 28 January 1988. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  12. ↑ "Ford Park Cemetery Home – Stop Press!". Ford Park Cemetery Trust. Retrieved 11 October 2008. (Archived here.)
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