Cemetery Engagement Ideas - Schools

 

Cemetery Engagement Ideas - Junior School

A Victorian cemetery off St John’s Road, Hitchin. It is a location which is safely away from traffic and provides a mixture of both historical and wildlife interest.

There is the possibility to make use of the leaders of the cemetery tours (Veronica Gardner & Phil Barron) to provide extra information.

Where

 

Hitchin Cemetery St John’s Road

 

What

·       5.64 hectares

·       Owned by NHDC

·       Managed jointly by NHDC & Countryside Management Service volunteers

·       Three separate sections based on the age of the burials

·       Oldest, mostly Victorian part most interesting.

·       Variety of graves: indicate relative wealth & religion

·       Chapel, split in to two: CofE side and non-conformist side

Why

 

·       Created 1857

·       England’s population roughly doubled every 50 years from 1800 onwards



·       Cholera epidemics 1850s

·       Churches and chapels ran out of burial space

Paupers Graves

 

·       Dwellings near St Mary’s highly unsanitary.

·       Queen Street used to be called Dead Street because so many died

·       Many burials in the cemetery without tombstones

·       This means now there are meadow areas managed specifically for wildlife


·       Poorest people have left us the most important legacy?

War Graves

 

·       61 War Graves (31 WWI, 30 WW2)

·       Have a recognisable style



·       Mostly of injured men, returned home and then died?

·       Two German airmen, shot down nearby

Other Graves

·       A kinder-transport passenger

·       Mary Dickens, Charles’ grand-daughter

·       Mr Fitch (head teacher of British School)

·       Cemetery is “for all religions & none”

 

Wildlife

·       Best time for flowers = spring & early summer

·       Rarest flower: Meadow Saxifrage (in April)



·       Best mammal: Black Squirrel

·       Best bird: Green Woodpecker

·       Best insects: Ladybirds, some quite rare


·       On cemetery tours Phil collects a few live insect specimens to hand round

Contact

Veronica Gardner vgardner211219@gmail.com 07896 272585

Phil Barron philip.barron1@ntlworld.com 07743 629127

 

Other notes:

Due to the age of the cemetery, there are few new burials taking place, but very occasionally the chapel is used for a service. Phil or Veronica can check in advance that there is no clash.

Potential activities:

·       Investigate inscriptions – How old were people? etc Strange names? Eg “Energy Ward”

·       Find the 61 war graves: put them on a map of the cemetery

·       Do “rubbing” of inscriptions (only some stone suitable)

·       Measure trees’ circumference (can then estimate age)

·       Measure tree height (only need a ruler and a bit of string 2m long). Carbon capture?

·       Bug hunt

·       Gardening/wildlife-related activity? Depends on time of year.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hitchin Cemetery June-July 2024

Image
 Hitchin Cemetery June-July 2024 The fourth and final cemetery tour led by The Friends of Hitchin Cemetery as part of Hitchin Festival was on the last Sunday of July and there have been nearly 100 visitors on tours this year. The tours start in the chapel to give people a chance to see inside this building, which is not often used, although this year for the first time the chapel was used as a voting station in the general election. Apologies to the many people who have been unable to book on these very popular tours: we will give the disappointed people prior notice of next year's tours. The summer months are the best time to see the many flowers and insects which find a home in the cemetery. There have been some really very unusual wildlife sightings (as you will see lower down) which is remarkable given that it is only eight years since a changed management scheme allowed some grassland areas of the cemetery to grow long. It is also eight years since The Friends of Hitchin Cemet
Read more

Hitchin Cemetery Apr-May 2024

Image
 Hitchin Cemetery Apr-May 2024 The cemetery is a lovely place to visit at any time of the year, but in late spring it really looks attractive, with the fresh greens of Silver Birches, Lime trees and meadow grass making a lovely contrast with the spring flowers. The best plant in the cemetery in my view is Meadow Saxifrage and it is thriving like never before, with around a thousand plants. Meadow Saxifrage is a good indicator of old grassland and demonstrates that the cemetery has special conditions which have been lost from much of the countryside elsewhere. A special mention must be made of the mowing teams who take care to strim around the Meadow Saxifrage and I asked Steve Grainger, an expert local photographer, to take some photos and this is one of his. It is important to remember that the meadow area contains not just showy plants but many unassuming species such as Ribwort Plantain (below left) and Sorrel, and it is not just flowers which provide food for invertebrates; the roo
Read more

Hitchin Cemetery Oct - Dec 2023

Image
  Hitchin Cemetery October - December 2023 The back end of the year seemed a little wetter than average and various fungi were seen pushing up through the grass including many conventional parasol-shaped ones and also puff balls, which eject their spores from a little hole on top when hit by raindrops. Some of the cemetery fungi such as Parrot Waxcaps (not shown) are indicators of a good meadows which have been kept free from fertilizers, insecticides & weed-killers.   Late insects were taking advantage of the cemetery well in to November, such a Southern Oak Bush Cricket, found resting on a Beech tree trunk with its very long antennae (tricky to see in the photo). Also spotted was a very tiny Bark Louse found under a leaf, this is the sort of insect found in abundance but so small they are difficult for us humans to see and are the type of food that birds search for under fallen leaves all through the winter.  The seven bird boxes which were installed earlier in the year were chec
Read more