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Broad Road Cemetery was created in the mid 19th century, circa 1850. It has a pattern of rectangular spaces planted with trees. A central road separated consecrated from non-Conformist burial areas. A spired arch over this road joined the two chapels. Both of the mortuary chapels (Church of England Mortuary and a non-Conformist Mortuary Chapel) were demolished in 1960. There are two lodges on the east side. (1)
The cemetery was considered for inclusion in the Register of Parks and Gardens, but was not added to the Register. (2)
Broadway Cemetery was established in response to the congestion in Peterborough's existing burial grounds, a reflection in part upon the city's rapidly expanding population in the 19th century. Land to the north of the cathedral provided burial ground until the end of the 18th century when there was no longer sufficient space to meet demand. In 1805 land was purchased at the end of Cowgate but this burial ground too was full by the mid 19th century. This led the Peterborough Cemetery Commissioners in April 1857 to pay £500 for five acres of land that was developed into Broadway Cemetery, a proportion of which was consecrated the following year by Bishop Davys. The first recorded burial is of Mr William Bower, buried on 3 May 1858, but earlier monuments survive with memorial stones dating from 1849. In 1875 the cemetery was extended by four acres on the western side and consecrated by Bishop Magee. In 1902 it was extended again to the west to meet the newly constructed Broadway road. Two chapels to serve the Church of England and non-conformist populations, a lodge, offices and mortuary buildings were constructed on the site but have since all been demolished. The cemetery has over 25,000 interments.
Broadway Cemetery has two principal entrances located at opposite ends of the site. One entrance leads off from Eastfield Road on the eastern boundary and the second on the western boundary provides access from Broadway, a road that first appears on the 1901 OS map. Both entrances have a double set of stone gate piers within which is a central double gate and a single gate set either side. The original iron gates survive. These entrances open onto a main central avenue running east to west with paths leading off perpendicular to this central axis at regular intervals. These paths connect to a path that follows the perimeter of the site. This arrangement creates a formal rectangular grid plan. Towards the eastern entrance the central avenue splits to create an island in which the chapels formerly stood. All of these paths have a grass covering except the central avenue which has a modern asphalt surface.
The eastern and western boundaries are marked by a low wall of three stone courses set above a chamfered plinth and originally finished with a set of iron railings that have since been removed. On each corner of the boundary is a stone end pier of the same design as those at the entrances, and a single iron gate with another set of stone piers provides access on the north-eastern corner of the site.
The monuments are arranged in formal rows aligned north to south with the more prominent monuments located near the main paths and on areas of higher ground at the perimeter. In the south-west quarter of the cemetery is the grave of Sgt Thomas Hunter, a Second World War Australian soldier who died in Peterborough from injuries sustained whilst fighting at the Somme in 1916. This monument, a celtic cross in granite, forms part of a group of war graves, the focus of which is a large white cross that forms the main war memorial.
The extant original planting is deliberate and formal in its arrangement. The central avenue is lined either side with a row of mature lime trees that are nearly complete in their survival. Alternately planted yew and holly trees form a screen behind the walls on the eastern and western boundaries. This alternating arrangement is continued in an avenue of yew and deciduous trees planted at the Broadway road end. Two of the most prominent species found at Broadway, yew and holly, were typically planted in the mid to late 19th century, intended to evoke a funerary aesthetic with their dark evergreen foliage. A small number of pine trees and evergreen oaks populate the site. New planting that is not contemporary with the original designed landscape is prevalent, as well as wild species such as ivy.
The Broadway Cemetery, Peterborough, is not recommended for inclusion on the Register of Parks and Gardens for the following principal reasons:
* The layout is typical for its date and modest in its ambition, displaying little originality or innovation.
* Whilst a degree of the original planting survives, the species and arrangement are typical of the period and context and display neither great creativity nor a high degree of aesthetic merit.
* The cemetery has lost its key structural elements, including its chapels, lodge and mortuary buildings that were integral components of the designed landscape and crucial to the function it was intended to serve.
* It is not an early example of a municipal cemetery, with the main landscape dating from 1858 and with additions dating through to the beginning of the 20th century. (3)
, Cemetery was created in 1850 and spans 9 acres. (2) |