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Summary

1842 detached parish churchyard, extended in 1894 and 1921

Monument Types

• CEMETERY (1842, Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events

• Monitoring of test pits in Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted, 2016 (Ref: 258/BRL)

Full description

The Cemetery in Rectory Lane is not a municipal cemetery, but the detached churchyard of St Peter's Church [9092] 115m to the NW across the High Street. It opened in 1842, on land behind Egerton House [15511] given by its owner, the Countess of Bridgewater <1, 2>. The 1888 OS map <3> shows the present full extent already planned (and labelled 'Cemetery'), although in effect the use of the land for graves was extended in 1894 and 1921. It remained in regular use until c.1945, approximately when the municipal cemetery opened at Kingshill.

The bricks for the original walls and gates, which survive in part, came from the Countess's brickworks at Slapton (on the border between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire). The 1842 layout exhibited new design principles (essentially based on the idea of the cemetery as a garden) which were to be published by Loudon in 1843 but appear to have been influenced by the Countess using her experience at Ashridge: paths for promenading, a terraced avenue, interesting tree plantings. As well as these, many Victorian and later monuments survive, including the family graves of William Cooper the sheep-dip manufacturer, and General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, and many local notables <1>.

The cemetery, on sloping ground, is surrounded by a high brick wall topped with iron railings. The foundations of this wall, and those of the memorial arch and sexton's hut, were exposed in test pits in 2016, before refurbishment. The wall is of various dates corresponding with the extensions, the oldest parts in handmade bricks. The overgrown footings of the old south perimeter wall were seen in one pit; the memorial arch marks the original southern boundary <4>.

<1> JM, 2017, Heritage statement: Rectory Lane Cemetery (Unpublished document). SHT18030.

<2> Tithe map and award, Berkhamsted, c.1839 (map) (Cartographic material). SHT1377.

<3> OS 25 inch map, 1st edition, 1878-88 (Cartographic material). SHT8116.

<4> Shlasko, Ellen, 2016, Archaeological observation and recording report: Rectory Lane Cemetery, Rectory Lane, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, RNO 3998 (Report). SHT18279.

Sources and further reading

Related records

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