There was a time, not so long
ago, when certain London Cemeteries were being sold off for pence. They were
deemed to have served their purpose, and were becoming a big problem in terms
of maintenance. So the appropriate bodies who were responsible for the
cemeteries considered it a wise move to sell off the land for a peppercorn.
Much later, the councils involved were to discover how foolish they had
been. Over the past twenty years we, as a nation, have discovered how valuable
these acres are. Indeed, they have proved to be havens for fast-disappearing
wild life, both flora and fauna. With the encroachment of urbanisation, the
churchyards and cemeteries of our land are proving to be the last refuges of
many rare plants and animals.
Some years ago the Arthur Rank Trust at
Stoneleigh in Warwickshire decided to set up a project to be known as ‘The
Living Churchyard’. Since those early beginnings, burial grounds all over
the country have been integrated into the scheme. ‘The core of a
churchyard or burial ground embraces many factors which our present generation
can relate to. These are a concern for conservation, both for our wildlife and
architectural heritage, a chance for solitude, away from the presses and
stresses of life, and a desire to find significance in thinking about the
mysteries of life and death.’ * At the lowest level they can be a place of
quiet "green" reflection in a noisy hectic world.
In Faringdon, old
Berkshire, but since 1974 in Oxfordshire, we are fortunate in having a free
Church Cemetery; We have to go back to the year 1860, when seventeen worthy
citizens of Faringdon felt it necessary to purchase a plot of land for the
burial of Protestant Dissenters. The reason for this move was because it was
sometimes difficult to persuade Anglican parish priests to bury the bodies of
those people who had not adhered to, or been members of the national church. In
some way, Non-conformists were considered to be what we should call "second
class citizens". This may seem a strange notion in our days of ecumenism, but
make no mistake, it was so.
To put an end to this type of discrimination
our seventeen worthy men of Faringdon decided to take the risk of buying a plot
of land in Canada Lane, then known as Gas House Lane, because of the Faringdon
Gas Company which had its works there. Perhaps It was not the most salubrious
of places, next door to the Gas works, but it was a pleasant enough area which
had been an orchard, and before that the Old Pound. In the original deed it was
described as "All that piece or parcel of land or orchard, situate lying and
being in Westbrook, within the manor of Great Faringdon measuring in front to
the new road there 132 feet and in depth backwards 242 feet and containing in
the whole by admeasurement 3 roods more or less bounded on the north west by
the said new road ……".
The names ‘of the seventeen
original trustees are as follows: Oliver Gerring, William Noad the younger,
Samuel Clayden, George Lewis, Arthur Ballard, James Fidel the younger, Joseph
Johnson, Jeffery Thomas Chamberlain, James Bell Hands, Charles Oldacre, Thomas
Poore the younger, George Face, Thomas James, George Davis, William Taylor,
John Abel and John Baker. It is interesting to see names cropping up that are
still in Faringdon to this day.
So our first trustees set about enclosing
the Cemetery with stone walls. No doubt this was cheap enough in those days.
The first burials for Protestant Dissenters must soon have followed once the
ground had been suitably prepared.
At that time there were the
following Non-conformist places of worship in Faringdon, the Independent Chapel
in Marlborough St, the Baptist Chapel in Bromsgrove, the Primitive Methodist
Chapel in Coxwell St, the Wesleyan Chapel in Gloucester St and the Friends
Meeting House in Lechlade Rd. How folks must have been relieved to have
somewhere to bury their dead, somewhere perfectly legitimate, and not be
beholden to the local vicar who might or might not agree to perform the last
rites.
Three years ago the
present trustees sought the help of the Living Churchyard project in
Stoneleigh, and as a result were given expert advice by David Manning from the
Arthur Rank Trust, and Emma Broad of the local Wildlife Trust, BBONT
In
September 1997 we qualified for an award and the Cemetery trustees were
presented with a certificate from the Oxford Diocese. This was a great boost
for all those who faithfully work at keeping the Cemetery in good order.
In
1999 the North wall was rebuilt along its entire length of 242feet. This was a
major undertaking and only made possible by the goodwill of many people.
A special service of Thanksgiving and
Remembrance led by Members of the Free Church Cemetery Trust took place Sunday
16th July 2000.
Further fund raising has started to fund the
building of another boundary wall
The memory of our seventeen original
trustees is honoured through the effort and care of the current trustees and
local citizens.
© Mary
Greetham, Treasurer