Stroud Old Cemetery, Stroud, Gloucestershire, Church History

Gloucestershire Places of Worship

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Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of John Williams

Stroud Old Cemetery, Stroud

Stroud Old Cemetery,
Bisley Road,
Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Church History

This Cemetery or Burial Ground was founded in 1856, and we understand it is still open.

Stroud Cemetery, off Bisley Road was developed more than 150 years ago, after the other cemeteries in the town had become dangerous to health. The Burial Board set up for provision of the new facilities consisted of four Orthodox and four Nonconformist members.
William Lewis a pauper from the workhouse was the first person to be buried here, on 4th September 1856. Between then, and the end of 1869, a total of 1,500 burials took place, of which two thirds were in consecrated ground, and one third, including 54 Roman Catholics were in the unconsecrated portion.
A number of Stroud's historic figures are also buried here. These include former MP Sir John Dorington, industrialist George Holloway and Sidney Park, a local draper, who gave Park Gardens to the town in memory of his son who was killed in the First World War.
The Cemetery is in two parts. The original purchase of land was of 6 acres of land, part of a wood called "The Conygear", on which were erected two chapels (side by side) with a central spire, and an entrance lodge. These are visible from the Bisley Road.
In 1867 another part of the Conygear was bought, consisting of a cottage and three acres and thirty-three perches of land, which became known as the "New" Cemetery. The two plots lie on either side of a road leading to an area known as "The Horns".
Now under the management of Stroud Town Council, in partnership with the owners, Stroud District Council, the Cemetery is currently the only Local Nature reserve in the Stroud district. Indeed, wildlife is encouraged, and apparently adders are known to sunbathe on the gravestones in good weather.
The left half of the chapel building is used by Anglicans, and the right side by Nonconformists. It is suggested that the carvings on the Anglican side are 'royal' and the Nonconformist 'commoners'! [Sources: John Williams, and <Stroud Genealogy on Stuart Flight's "Glosgen" website]

Denomination

Now or formerly a Cemetery.

In most cases this will be a record of its original consecration.

Maps

This Cemetery is located at OS grid reference SO8628004821. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Stroud Old Cemetery, Stroud shown on a Google Map.
Places of Worship in Stroud shown on a Google Map.
Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Stroud, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

Stuart Flight's webpages of <Stroud Genealogy (null) (verified 2018-11-08)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.

Information last updated on 8 Nov 2018 at 17:08.

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Further Information

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no affiliation with the churches or congregations themselves, nor is it intended to provide a means to find places of worship in the present day.

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This Report was created 19 Dec 2024 - 18:07:11 GMT from information held in the Gloucestershire section of the Places of Worship Database. This was last updated on 13 Oct 2021 at 14:13.

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