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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.





21st March 2022







20th September 2021



John Dobson's grave








9th March 2011
























20th June 2009








2nd February 2009
























22nd June 2006













31st May 2006















More Information:
See my other photos around Jesmond:

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous27 January 2009 at 23:13

    Many thanks for your excellent coverage of Jesmond Old Cemetery and your lovely images of a fascinating part of Newcastle's culture. The Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery salute your contribution to our cause.

    Ray
    Secretary of Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery

    ReplyDelete
  2. Newcastle Photos28 January 2009 at 07:18

    Thanks for your kind words. I plan another visit there the next time we have some decent weather as there is much more I want to photograph.

    ReplyDelete
  3. discoveringmygenes22 October 2011 at 03:48

    So neat to look at your photographs! I just recently discovered my family is from this area and were married in a Jesmond church.

    ReplyDelete