Join us for a tour of the Old Graveyard (the Victorian Cemetery) on Marlborough Common

We are delighted that MHS members have booked in large numbers for the first tour of the Old Cemetery on Wednesday 25 June. If you missed the chance to book your spot, we’re excited to announce a second tour has been scheduled. Please see below for tour details and how to book:

Kim Wakeham is kindly leading a second tour of Marlborough’s Old Cemetery on the evening of Wednesday 2nd July. We meet at 6.30 pm by the Rugby clubhouse on the Common and, after the walking tour, there will be an opportunity for MHS members to have a drink in the clubhouse.

Known locally as the Old Graveyard or the Victorian Cemetery, the first burials in the former Municipal Borough Cemetery were in 1835. These were in the public burial area and coincided with the opening of Marlborough Union Workhouse.

Following the requirements of the 1853 Burial Act which required parishes in England and Wales to close existing Parish Church cemeteries, the cemetery was extended to include burials from St. Peter’s Church, St. Mary’s Church  (Anglican burials) and the Methodist Church (non-conformist burials). The setting, interior design and layout of the cemetery incorporated many features which were outlined in the highly influential pamphlet by JC Loudon ‘On the laying out, planting, and managing of cemeteries, and on the improvement of churchyards’ published in 1843. The cemetery was closed in 1924.

Aspects of the original design can still be deciphered today. When these are considered alongside the lives of the people who are buried in the cemetery, a snapshot of Marlborough’s Victorian social history can be explored.

HOW TO BOOK:
Please book a place by contacting John Osborne at jeo66@btinternet.com or by telephone.