Hitchin Cemetery
Hitchin Cemetery, also known as St John's Road Cemetery, is the main burial ground for the town of
History
As a result of two
The Chapel originally contained both Anglican and Non-Conformist chapels, positioned at right angles to each other.[2] The burial ground extension to the south-west of Cemetery Road opened in 1879. The total cost for the cemetery was a little over £3000. Cemetery Road, which today bisects the two sections of the cemetery, was built in 1871 at a cost of £986.[3]
The opening ceremony took place on 3 May 1857, with the Anglican area being consecrated by George Murray, the Bishop of Rochester (Hitchin then being under the Diocese of Rochester), while the first burial with a tombstone was that of William Morgan in 1857. The Delmé-Radcliffe Family, who owned Hitchin Priory from 1548 to 1965, have a burial plot near the Lodge Cottage.[3]
The cemetery covers approximately 5.64 hectares in total, divided into three separate sections based on the age of the burials. To the southwest is the newest part of the cemetery which is separated from the older parts by Cemetery Road. The oldest part of the cemetery is by the Chapel in the north-eastern third of the site (approximately 1.46ha). There are a large proportion of unmarked graves in the main body of the cemetery which are believed to be pauper, children and workhouse inmate graves.[4]
The cemetery holds 59 war graves registered and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 31 Commonwealth service personnel from World War I and 26 Commonwealth service personnel and two German Air Force personnel from World War II.[5]
In 1962, an extension to the Cemetery was found on land next to the cemetery, which was owned by John Howard. John later sold it to Hitchin Rural District Council (which later became North Herts District Council in 1974)
Notable burials
- Edward Chapman (1804–1880), publisher who with William Hall founded the publishers Chapman & Hall.
- Mary Angela Dickens (1862–1948), novelist and oldest grandchild of Charles Dickens.[6][7]
- Alfred Marshall (RAF officer) (1915–1944), flying ace with the Royal Air Force[8]
- Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridgefrom 1890 to 1915.
Gallery
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The Chapel at Hitchin Cemetery -
The Cemetery Lodge Cottage -
The entrance to the new section -
Grave of Mary Angela Dickens (foreground)
References
- North Hertfordshire District Councilwebsite
- ^ Hertfordshire Churches in Photographs – Hitchin Cemetery, St John’s Road, Hitchin
- ^ a b The History of Hitchin Cemetery – Countryside Management Service website
- ^ Hitchin Cemetery on the Countryside Management Service website
- ^ Hitchin Cemetery on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
- ^ Monumental Inscriptions Hitchin Cemetery (Old Section), Hertfordshire Archived 2012-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Flight Lieutenant Alfred Ernest Marshall". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
