Jesmond Old Cemetery

In 1833 the Mayor of Newcastle, Henry Bell, was requested by many of the town’s leading citizens including John Dobson, architect, and Richard Grainger, property developer, to call a meeting ‘to form and establish, for the use of town, a General Cemetery a measure for which the crowded state of the church yards has long rendered necessary’.

The meeting was held in the Guildhall early in 1834 and it was agreed to form a private company to carry out the scheme with a share capital of £8000 (400 shares of £20) which was considered enough to cover purchase of the ground plus the necessary building and landscaping work. A Prospectus was issued inviting subscribers for shares and adding that the proposed cemetery would be on 11 acres in Jesmond Fields, owned by the Corporation, surrounded by cornfields and meadows. The cemetery would be open to all religious denominations, roughly one half as consecrated ground to ministered by the curate of St Andrew’s, in whose parish the cemetery would lie, and the other half as unconsecrated ground for all non-conformists.

John Dobson was appointed architect and work began in 1835 when land was drained, three-metre walls erected to enclose the triangular site(to keep out the bodysnatchers), and construction got under way. It was declared open for burials on the 16th of November 1836. The Cemetery is the resting place of some of Newcastle's most influential and famous sons and daughters including John Dobson, Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, founder of Bainbridge’s department store and naturalist Albany Hancock.

Today the Archaeology Department of Tyne and Wear Museums and the County Archaeologist occupy the buildings and store equipment in the catacombs.

Information courtesy of the Friends Of Jesmond Old Cemetery website.

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21st March 2022

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20th September 2021

John Dobson's grave

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9th March 2011

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20th June 2009

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2nd February 2009

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22nd June 2006

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31st May 2006

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More Information:

• Sitelines - Jesmond, Newcastle General Cemetery (Jesmond Old Cemetery)
• Co-Curate - Jesmond Old Cemetery
• Wikipedia - Jesmond Old Cemetery
• Sitelines - Jesmond, Newcastle General Cemetery, south lodge and gateway
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, archway, chapels, walls
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, tomb of John Dobson
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, Fairless Harrison tomb
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, Keenleyside Tomb
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, tomb of T.M. Richardson
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, Tomb of Archibald Reed
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, Joseph Wilson tomb
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, tomb of Thomas Oliver
• Sitelines - Newcastle General Cemetery, Mem. to Dr William Rea
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of John Dove
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of John Hawthorn
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of Thomas Lowe Bunting
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of William Campbell
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of Richard Cail
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of John Abbot
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Grave of John Fleming
• Sitelines - Jesmond Old Cemetery, Graves of John Harvey and Herbert Davy

See my other photos around Jesmond:

• Jesmond
• Adderstone Cres - Road Resurfacing Blooper
• All Saints Cemetery
• Brandling Park
• Jesmond Station (The Carriage)
• Jesmond Towers
• Sandyford House Regeneration
• St. Andrews Cemetery
• Church of St. Hilda
• West Jesmond Station
• Jesmond Dene
• Jesmond Dene - Fishermans Lodge Restaurant Fire
• Jesmond Dene - Pets Corner
• Jesmond Dene - St Mary's Chapel
• Jesmond Dene Banqueting Hall
• Jesmond Dene Nurseries
• Jesmond Vale
• Sandyford
• Shieldfield
• South Gosforth
• Town Moor