Burial grounds: churchyards and cemeteries
1843
A committee reported in 1843 that every churchyard in the City of Oxford was full. (Oxford at this time did not include the present-day suburbs of Cowley and Headington, while Botley was not even in the same county.)
There were at this time 15 churches in Oxford, of which 13 were ancient and two (St Paul’s and Summertown) relatively new:
All Saints, High Street |
St Giles |
St Mary the Virgin |
The need for new burial grounds became more and more urgent, but the clergy opposed the opening of a general cemetery, and so Oxford had to wait nearly fifty years for its first municipal cemetery.
1848
Three new parish cemeteries were consecrated:
- Osney Cemetery
- Holywell Cemetery
- St Sepulchre’s Cemetery in Jericho
1855
Orders in council instructed that burials should cease in
- all the ancient parish churchyards (except in existing vaults or walled graves)
- the graveyards of the Roman Catholic, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Congregational chapels
- the workhouse
- the Radcliffe Infirmary
- the castle gaol.
In addition, burials in the three new parish cemeteries of 1848 and in Summertown churchyard were to be made only in plots already reserved.
1876
The Cemetery Committee of the Local Board reported that the above orders of 1855 could not be complied with, and that St Thomas’s and St Clement’s churchyards were still being used occasionally. As a result the Local Board was constituted a Burial Board, and negotiations started to purchase land from Christ Church at Rose Hill.
1878
St Mary & St John churchyard was consecrated in 1878, and this would have eased the problem in east Oxford
1889
The new Oxford Corporation bought the following land for municipal cemeteries outside the city:
- Rose Hill Cemetery (11 acres)
- Wolvercote Cemetery at Cutteslowe (13 acres)
Both cemeteries were dedicated in 1892 under the Interments Act.
1890
The Oxford Corporation bought the following land for a third municipal cemetery, which was dedicated in the same year:
- Botley Cemetery (8 acres)
1928
When Headington was taken into Oxford, its parish council cemetery became a public burial ground for the whole city.
1939
Oxford Crematorium opened in Bayswater Lane (now part of Headington, but then part of Stanton St John)
Oxford City Cemeteries Service
This covers the four municipal cemeteries (Botley, Headington,
Rose Hill, and Wolvercote),
all of which are still open