Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge
Encyclopedia
Histon Road Cemetery, formerly Cambridge General Cemetery, is a cemetery in north Cambridge
, England, lying off Histon Road
, opened in 1842. It is notable as one of only three designs by John Claudius Loudon
, who covers it in detail in his influential book On the Laying Out, Planting and Managing of Cemeteries (1843); the other cemeteries associated with Loudon are Bath Abbey Cemetery
, and Southampton Old Cemetery
(where his plan was rejected). These experiences of practical planning directly affected Loudon's writing on the subject.
According to the Parks and Gardens UK website, as part of the rationale for including Histon Road Cemetery on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest at Grade II*:
The buildings were by the architect Edward Buckton Lamb
; Lamb had been an associate of Loudon from the early 1830s, when Loudon employed him as a draughtsman. They comprised a chapel (demolished in the 1950s) and a Lodge that is now a private residence. The chapel with its "very elegant stained windows" was mentioned in the diary of Joseph Romilly
. The design as built was Gothic and made of white brick, not in the Italian style put forward by Lamb and Loudon. The chapel contained a memorial dated 1851 to Ebenezer Foster (1777-1851) and his wife Elizabeth, by James Rattee
.
The Lodge and gates are now Grade II listed buildings.
(1821).
The cemetery was initially (1843) the property of the Cambridge Cemetery Company which had been set up on 12 October 1842, by Robert Peters of Downing Street, Cambridge; there had been calls in the local press for more burial grounds for a decade. The policy of the Company made no religious conditions on burials.
Control passed to the Borough of Cambridge in 1935. The decision to demolish the chapel because of the cost of necessary repairs was taken in 1957. From 2007 the cemetery has been run by Cambridge City Council (Open Spaces) working with its Friends group.
s was made by Lucy Joan Slater
(unpublished, deposited at Cambridge Record Office).
Those interred include:
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England, lying off Histon Road
Histon Road
Histon Road is an arterial road linking central Cambridge, England with the A14 road north of the city. The road is designated the B1049. At the southern end, the road links with Huntingdon Road , Victoria Road , Mount Pleasant, and Castle Street...
, opened in 1842. It is notable as one of only three designs by John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon was a Scottish botanist, garden and cemetery designer, author and garden magazine editor.-Background:...
, who covers it in detail in his influential book On the Laying Out, Planting and Managing of Cemeteries (1843); the other cemeteries associated with Loudon are Bath Abbey Cemetery
Bath Abbey Cemetery
The Anglican Bath Abbey Cemetery, officially dedicated as the Cemetery of St Peter and St Paul , was laid out by noted cemetery designer and landscape architect John Claudius Loudon in 1843 on a picturesque hillside site overlooking Bath, Somerset, England...
, and Southampton Old Cemetery
Southampton Old Cemetery
Southampton Old Cemetery is a cemetery located in Southampton, England.The cemetery has had various titles including The Cemetery by the Common, Hill Lane Cemetery and is currently known as Southampton Old Cemetery. An Act of Parliament was required in 1843 to acquire the land from Southampton...
(where his plan was rejected). These experiences of practical planning directly affected Loudon's writing on the subject.
Plan
The site is approximately 1 hectare in area (1.25 ha in some sources). Loudon used plans for the Histon Road cemetery as illustrative of his views on cemetery design. Research has indicated that the actual work carried out on the cemetery, which opened in 1843 (the year of his death), does not correspond closely with Loudon's announcements.According to the Parks and Gardens UK website, as part of the rationale for including Histon Road Cemetery on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest at Grade II*:
The cemetery embodies Loudon's most important ideas on cemetery design and is an early example of the grid pattern layout adopted for many later cemeteries.
The buildings were by the architect Edward Buckton Lamb
Edward Buckton Lamb
Edward Buckton Lamb was a British architect who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1824. Lamb was labelled a 'Rogue Gothic Revivalist', and for breaking with convention, his designs were roundly criticised, especially by The Ecclesiologist....
; Lamb had been an associate of Loudon from the early 1830s, when Loudon employed him as a draughtsman. They comprised a chapel (demolished in the 1950s) and a Lodge that is now a private residence. The chapel with its "very elegant stained windows" was mentioned in the diary of Joseph Romilly
Joseph Romilly
-Life:He was son of Thomas Peter Romilly of London, by his cousin Jane Anne, second daughter of Isaac Romilly. Sir Samuel Romilly was his uncle. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1809, became a scholar of the college, and graduated B.A. in 1813 as fourth wrangler. He was elected Fellow in...
. The design as built was Gothic and made of white brick, not in the Italian style put forward by Lamb and Loudon. The chapel contained a memorial dated 1851 to Ebenezer Foster (1777-1851) and his wife Elizabeth, by James Rattee
James Rattee
James Rattee was an English woodcarver and mason, especially noted for his skill in church ornamentation and restoration, for which his services were sought worldwide.-Life:...
.
The Lodge and gates are now Grade II listed buildings.
Management
Histon Road Cemetery was one of the first British cemeteries open to all. The first was Rosary Cemetery, NorwichRosary Cemetery, Norwich
Rosary Cemetery, Norwich was the first ever non-denominational cemetery in the United Kingdom. The entrance to the Rosary Cemetery lies on Rosary Road in Norwich, Norfolk.It was established in 1819 by Thomas Drummond, a nonconformist minister...
(1821).
The cemetery was initially (1843) the property of the Cambridge Cemetery Company which had been set up on 12 October 1842, by Robert Peters of Downing Street, Cambridge; there had been calls in the local press for more burial grounds for a decade. The policy of the Company made no religious conditions on burials.
Control passed to the Borough of Cambridge in 1935. The decision to demolish the chapel because of the cost of necessary repairs was taken in 1957. From 2007 the cemetery has been run by Cambridge City Council (Open Spaces) working with its Friends group.
Burials
There have been over 8000 burials at the cemetery. A listing of monumental inscriptionMonumental inscription
A monumental inscription is an inscription, typically carved in stone, on a grave marker, cenotaph, memorial plaque, church monument or other memorial....
s was made by Lucy Joan Slater
Lucy Joan Slater
Lucy Joan Slater was a mathematician who worked on hypergeometric functions, and who found many generalizations of the Rogers–Ramanujan identities...
(unpublished, deposited at Cambridge Record Office).
Those interred include:
- Mary BatesonMary Bateson (historian)Mary Bateson was a British historian and suffrage activist.Bateson was the daughter of William Henry Bateson, Master of St John's College, Cambridge, and Anna Aikin. The geneticist William Bateson was her older brother. She was educated at the Perse School for Girls and Newnham College, Cambridge...
(1865-1906) - Charles Edmund Brock (1870–1938)
- Albert George Dew-Smith (1848-1903), co-founder of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument CompanyCambridge Scientific Instrument CompanyCambridge Scientific Instrument Company was a company founded in 1881 by Horace Darwin and Albert George Dew-Smith to manufacture scientific instruments....
- Alfredo Antunes Kanthack (1863-1898), Brazilian microbiologist
- William Fiddian MoultonWilliam Fiddian Moultonright|thumb|Rev. William Fiddian Moulton. Portrait in Moulton Chapel, Leys School, CambridgeRev. William Moulton was an English Methodist minister, Biblical scholar and educator.-Biography:...
(1835–1898) - Henry Wiles (1838-1930), sculptor.
Further reading
- James Stevens Curl, John Claudius Loudon and the Garden Cemetery Movement, Garden History, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 133-156.