Hitchin Cemetery Apr-May 2025

The fresh green leaves of the Lime trees in the cemetery entrance look stunning in early April, I hope the cemetery designer, George Beaver, would have been pleased, and should you wish to pay your respects, you can see his memorial in the North-eastern corner of the cemetery close to the big Yew. 

These blog posts usually contain mostly natural history notes, but I'll start with a bit of conventional history about the Beavers... 

 

The Beaver memorial is one of those which leads me to try and imagine what the lives might have been like for these Victorians, the details on the stone records:

• AMY, died June 1867 aged 84
• GEORGE (senior) died May 1875 aged 90
• SAMUEL their fourth son who died at Monte Video in South America in June 1877 aged 65 
• GEORGE their second son who died May 1896  aged 86 years

A little rummaging on the internet tells me that George senior was a basket maker, and I bet Amy was too and they owned osier beds which were where Sainsbury's now is. The family lived on the market place (now Toni & Guy's hairdressers) and presumably had a shop there in what I guess was a prime location. The premises later became a post office with a John Beaver becoming the first Postmaster in 1859 - John is not buried in the cemetery. I must read "Hitchin Cameos" published by the Hitchin Historical Society for more information on George junior but have yet to do so, however I do know apart from designing the cemetery he was a surveyor and spent much of his life travelling the country working to establish the rail network. I wonder why did his brother Samuel die in Monte Video? Maybe he too was a surveyor of railways and given that Uruguay opened its first railway line in 1867 the timing fits. I am guilty of jumping to conclusions on this, but for me it is one of the pleasures of wandering round the cemetery imagining what lives had been led. In general this information on the Beavers suggests to me that they were one of many who prospered as the economy improved during the Victorian times.

Back to the cemetery wildlife: April brought the usual magnificent crop of Cowslips.

 

A stand of Garlic Mustard appeared near the Fire Station and a few Cuckoo Flowers (aka Lady's Smock) popped up in one or two places. Both these native flowers attract all sorts of insects including solitary bees and but in particular they are favoured by Orange-tip butterflies.

  

I take delight in is finding out more about some the tiny over-looked insects to be found in the cemetery and below are two examples of particularly small things: on the left is a close-up of a Scot's Pine needle with a curious "blob on a stalk" attached. Through the power of the internet I was able to find out that this is the egg of a Lacewing, they create this stalk in order to deter predators like Ants, the extreme thinness of the stalk means an Ant cannot climb it, so the egg remains safe from predation (also I checked with the national recorder for Lacewings who happens to live in Herts, who confirmed my sighting). On the bottom right is a Larch Case-bearer moth larva. The caterpillars of these moths make a hollow case from a bit of Larch needle and look like a tiny cigar, they wander around making punctures in the needles and reaching in to get at the softer inside tissue (see the bottom of the photo for old feeding signs). They can be a pest in forestry, but do no significant damage to the cemetery trees.

  

As ever the Friends Group meets every Friday to help maintain the oldest part of the cemetery and whilst on one of our coffee breaks this very friendly Holly Blue butterfly came to rest on Alison's finger, a seal of approval for our work I feel! And on the theme of 'blue', the grave of Joseph Parsons which had pine cones placed on it several years ago to hide unsightly concrete, this year  is sprouting a little sea of Love-in-a-Mist. I hope the Parsons family would approve.

The cemetery, especially the older part, as well as containing memorials to those who we can take time to remember also contains a wealth of different plants which in turn support a wide array of species at a time when biodiversity is needed more than ever. If you would like to come on a free cemetery tour to find out more, there are two in July (11th & 13th) and you must book tickets via the Hitchin Festival website (don't delay in booking as they will sell out soon).