Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery
History of the Old Southampton Cemetery
The cemetery, which adjoins Southampton Common, was opened in 1846, one of the earliest to be owned by a local council. An Act of Parliament was passed to give control of 15 acres to the Corporation. By 1846, 10 of the 15 acres had been laid out and formed the new Cemetery, the remaining 5 acres becoming used for burial purposes from 1863 In the early 1880's the Cemetery was expanded to its present size of 27 acres.
The Cemetery has been known as 'Southampton Common Cemetery', and as 'Hill Lane Cemetery', from the road that runs along its western boundary.
Picture to be added
The Cemetery was provided with three chapels - Church of England, Nonconformist, and Jewish, plus a Lodge for the curator. These all still exist, with the difference that the C of E chapel is now used by an artwork design studio, the Nonconformist chapel for a charity's storage area, and the Lodge together with the Jewish Chapel is now a privately owned house.
J Silvester Davies, in his "History of Southampton" published in 1883, said "The cemetery is kept in beautiful order under the supervision of the Corporation." He might have a different opinion in 2007.
There have been about 116,300 burials in the Cemetery, and most plots had been used by the early 1900's. About half a dozen burials a year still take place, in existing family plots.
The records of the Cemetery are held by the Southampton City Council Bereavement Services department who have recorded all the burials in a computerised data base. A copy of this database is also held by The Hawthorns on Southampton Common.
The current situation from the City Council's viewpoint is seen on the notice at the Cemetery entrance.
What a shame that the same shade of green seems to have been chosen to show all three mowing seasons.
A better map is on our page fosocmaps.htm
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