Hitchin Cemetery Jan-Mar 2026

Friends of Hitchin Cemetery 10th Anniversary

In March the Friends Group celebrated 10 years of their existence with a special gathering. It was attended by the Cemetery Manager, a local councillor, the Town Centre Manager, and representatives of the Countryside Management Service, the NHC Greenspace Team, Hitchin Historical Society, the Herts at War project, Hitchin Forum and John O'Conner plus of course the members of the Friends Group, sporting their brand new fleeces kindly provided by the council. A few speeches were made, a short tour of the Victorian part of the cemetery took place, where the Friends group concentrates their efforts, and refreshments taken. Many thanks to all involved for attending and making the event happen.

The Friends of Hitchin Cemetery group (FOHC) had its origins in a group of volunteers working for the Countryside Management Service (CMS). They were given the opportunity to attend a topiary course at the cemetery which was run by a Japan-trained expert. The course took place in late 2015 and course members met again in Feb 2016 and started work at the cemetery on a regular basis and thus the group was formed. the CMS provide equipment and regular training, ensuring the group has first aid skills and works safely with its tools and equipment and has insurance cover. The CMS also write the Cemetery’s Greenspace Action Plan on behalf of NHC, and this guides the activities of the FOHC.

Initially activities concentrated on topiary but have expanded into broader gardening and maintenance activities to enhance the interest and colour of the space to make it more attractive to visit. Over the years the group has taken an interest in the history of the cemetery and provides very popular free tours in the spring and summer. The group still performs topiary, general and wildlife gardening, litter picking and tidying of graves, and encourages wildlife by providing bird & bat boxes, bee hotels, and marking areas important for wildflowers. Over their 10 year existence friends group have provided a remarkable 8,304 hours of work, equating to many thousands of pounds-worth of effort.

January

In "competitive botany" news, the annual New Year Plant Hunt took place on 3rd January (to count how many wild or naturalised plants can be spotted in flower in a 3 hour window). Starting and finishing in the cemetery a group of a dozen or so saw 31 species in flower in the cemetery, another 14 species spotted on a short walk towards The Three Moorhens, making a total of 45 plants, topping the Hertfordshire league table (beating the expert group with its various botanical professionals and academics!). The most unusual plant seen was Mouse-ear Hawkweed, a common plant in the cemetery, but never usually in flower in winter.

                                                                Mouse-ear Hawkweed

Continuing with the competitive theme, in January the "Caring for God's Acre" charity, which supports conservation of burial sites, reported their analysis of biological recording over the past five years from all the UK's many burial grounds. Hitchin cemetery made it into their top ten table of "Quietly Consistent" recording  effort.

February

There are many Crocuses in the cemetery and maybe the wetter than usual winter made the display better this year than normal. The absence of hard frosts probably helped too which might have meant the squirrels had other food sources and were not so keen to eat them.

 

Margaret (from FOHC) noted a Silver Birch with fungus growing from the trunk, thought to be Silver Leaf Fungus. Several of the cemetery's Silver Birches are nearing the end of their natural life-span and the presence of this disease probably indicates that this particular tree's days are numbered. Fingers crossed it will last a while yet. 

 

                  Impressive Crocus display                                 Silver-leaf fungus on a Silver Birch trunk      

Another fungus, this time a benign one, was spotted under the big Atlas Cedar tree in the older part of the cemetery. The Cedar Cup fungus is just about big enough to hold a golf ball and this is the fourth site where it has been found in Hertfordshire.

 

March

The Daffodils, including a large sack-full provided by NHC Greenspace team, which FOHC planted during November were putting on a display...

A grave with special meaning which has been tidied up by Jack, our most recent volunteer, is the Clark grave. This is unusual  in that though a standard war grave design it has an additional surround put in place at a the time of a second burial. Jack explained that Sergeant Donald Clark, twenty years old, was a flight engineer on a Lancaster when it crashed in 1944 and that Jack was named after a relative of his, also twenty, who also died in a Lancaster. It is difficult for Jack to visit his relative's grave in France but at least he can look after Sergeant Clark's. The other burial is that of Donald's father Benjamin who died in 1980.

Another of several graves which were tidied up is that of Amelia, George and Alfred Brazier. The broken concrete base was removed, the soil level topped up, the somewhat sunken headstone levelled and a sprinkling of wild flower seeds added. If anyone has a particular grave they think the friends group might be able to improve in the older part of the cemetery then you can email us at hitchincemetery@gmail.com.

 

The Brazier grave, before and after

Insects were beginning to fly in March with two different Hoverflies spotted, both sporting magnificent golden-mirror thoraxes.

Over the next few months we will be weeding, tidying and trying to keep the cemetery in good shape but no hedge-cutting as this is always performed outside the bird nesting season. Finally, we look forward to conducting some more free cemetery tours on the following dates: 

• Friday 1st May at 10:30am (book by emailing hitchincemetery@gmail.com)
• Sunday 7th June at 2:00pm (book by emailing hitchincemetery@gmail.com)
• Friday 3rd July at 10:30 am (book through Hitchin Festival website)
• Sunday 26th July at 2:00 pm (book through Hitchin Festival website)

Early booking is advised, though the Hitchin Festival website won't be open for several weeks yet.