Hitchin Cemetery Jan-Mar 2025

In 2015 the Countryside Management Service put on a course in Hitchin Cemetery in hedge maintenance with a professional topiarist who had trained in Japan. One aim was to consider the cemetery as a whole and create a unifying theme of curved shapes and one of the techniques studied was that of cloud topiary and below is a rather splendid example, all credit to our leader Veronica's efforts over the past nine years. It was shortly after the course that the Friends of Hitchin Cemetery started life and we look forward to celebrating our tenth anniversary next year. 

The Friends group are very pleased with the brand new short guide to the cemetery created by Caroline of the Countryside Management Service working for North Herts Council. This leaflet has some details about how to find the cemetery and what can be seen there, and can be downloaded from the council website here:

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/doc/env/cms/conservation-in-hitchin-cemetery-leaflet.pdf. 

Over the winter we have been busy as usual on Fridays trimming hedges, weeding and tending graves and trying to achieve a balance between the formal neatness which pleases the eye and more relaxed maintenance which allows nature to thrive. Part of this work has been to thin out the thicker base of some the larger Yews, making a better overall shape and improving sight-lines. John has been leading this task, with help from others, and the work will also help the grass re-establish near the tree bases too. Photo credit John Edwards.

We have been searching the archives and found some older photos for comparisons: the photo below shows a Cedar tree lost its top in a gale a couple of years ago, so it is now somewhat thinner, but still retains a pleasant shape. It also shows that a Box bush underneath has been drastically reduced in height: this is one of the bushes which was getting disfigured by the many Box Tree Moth caterpillars. We hope that by cutting some Boxes back like this will promote new growth which might be more resistant to moth attack, but it also opens up the views slightly and we think makes the whole space more attractive. 

An example of a grave which has been worked on recently is shown below where all the chippings have been removed, washed and replaced and the plot weeded. The grave is that of a group of Roman Catholic priests, the most prominent name is that of Isodore Leveque of The Congregation of St Edmund, who died at the age of 38 in 1905. In 1880 in France various religious orders were required to formally register with the government or disband and this order seems to have taken the step to leave France and emigrate to Hitchin, eventually establishing a Roman Catholic seminary in Grove Road. Photo credit Margaret Dennehy.

On another historical note we understand there are hopes that there will be a new gravestone installed not far from the cemetery gates, commemorating Gunner John Ramsbottam who died in 1915 after he contracted TB during his military service. Every person who died on military service is entitled to be remembered by having a stone supplied by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission but some people were unfortunately missed, however the "Herts at War" project is pursuing this issue. He is remembered on the memorial by St Mary's (although his name has a spelling mistake) and we sincerely hope he will be properly commemorated in the cemetery and hopefully future posts will report some progress with this. You can read his biography on the Herts at War Website, here: http://www.hertsatwar.co.uk/biographies/984153/john-ramsbottam, and indeed all of the Hertfordshire war dead have on-line biographies.

Wildlife is more difficult to find over winter, but a couple of unusual sightings are below. On the left is a patch of wall by Standhill Road, with an interesting mixture of lichen and moss: the cemetery is has a wide variety stone types such as limestone, granite and sandstone, as well as brick, and each are favoured by different sets of species. On the right is a White Saddle fungus which popped up near the St John's Road gates under a Beech tree after what has been a wetter than average winter: these fungi always have an irregular cap and fluted stem.

  

We have had a kind donation of a couple of rather superior bird boxes made by a retired carpenter John Glazebrook which were put in place in early March and within a couple of days we spotted some moss by the entrance of one suggesting they were in immediate use. Many thanks John! Another reminder of spring was the large number of Ladybirds seen, especially on the Silver Birch, the photo shows the rather uncommon Two-spot Ladybird. 

 

Looking forward to the rest of the year the Friends Group have more tours of the Cemetery planned so we can share our knowledge about its history and wildlife, dates to be announced soon.