Glastonbury Cemetery
1904 Map
Introduction
Glastonbury Cemetery is a cemetery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. It was established in 1854–55 and is maintained by Glastonbury Town Council.
The cemetery lodge and its two mortuary chapels became Grade II listed buildings in 1977.
History
Glastonbury Cemetery was established at a time when the burial space in the churchyards of St John's and St Benedict's were reaching full capacity. Furthermore, new burial space was considered essential for the town as the population, including in the surrounding villages, was expected in increase in the future. A vestry meeting in October 1853 resolved to establish a cemetery and saw the formation of the Glastonbury Burial Board. A number of sites were considered by the Board, including the fields to the north of St John's, Fisher's Hill, Wearyall Hill and Edmund Hill.
Edmund Hill, which was the Burial Board's favoured site, was subsequently chosen at a vestry meeting on 3 August 1854, although there was some regret that a suitable site closer to the town could not have been found. The same meeting saw the estimated costs for purchasing the land, constructing the cemetery, its chapels and lodge, passed. The site was then inspected and formally approved by the government during the following month. The plans for the cemetery's lodge, entrance gateway and two mortuary chapels (one for the Church of England and one for nonconformists) were drawn up by the architect Charles Edmund Giles of Taunton.
Construction of the cemetery commenced in late 1854 and was completed in 1855. On 5 October 1854, tenders were sought by the Burial Board for the "erection of two chapels and an entrance gateway in the new burial ground". The Board then invited tenders for "road-making, draining and other works" on 16 November 1854, followed by the "erection of a lodge and gateway" on 18 January 1855.
The first burial took place at the cemetery on 2 April 1855.[9] The Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right Rev. Lord Auckland, consecrated the Church of England section of the cemetery on 8 August 1856.
Extensions
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_Cemetery
