Aldergate Cemetery, Tamworth
It is often assumed that the burial ground between Aldergate and the Library in Tamworth is part of St Editha's churchyard, but that is not the case. It is actually a separate cemetery, built on land donated by Hester Wolferstan in 1851. She was following in the footsteps of an ancestor who had donated part of the land on which St Editha's churchyard was built. Watch the video below, or read on for a bit more detail.
The consecration of the graveyard took place on Thursday 26th June 1851. The Staffordshire Advertiser reported:
Tamworth, Wednesday last, the Bishop of Lichfield held confirmation at Tamworth. [...] On Thursday, at twelve, the Bishop again arrived at the church, and was met by the clergy of the district. After Divine service, a procession was formed of the Bishop and clergy, and a great many respectable inhabitants of the town, to proceed to the piece of ground given by Miss Wolferstan, of Tamworth Castle, as a burial ground for Tamworth and the Castle Liberty. The petition was presented in due form by Mr Mott, and the Bishop then proceeded to consecrate the ground, after which he dismissed the assembly with a most solemn benediction. His lordship, accompanied by the clergy, afterwards repaired to the Castle, where Miss Wolferstan had a 'dejeune' prepared for them. The day was exceedingly favourable, and all must have been highly gratified with the whole proceedings.
On 2nd August that same year, the Staffordshire Advertiser reported:
The quarterly meeting of the Council was held yesterday, J C Righton Esquire, Mayor, in the chair. After some preliminary business connected with the accounts and the borough fund had been disposed of, the following resolution was passed unanimously: "Miss Wolferstan, of Tamworth Castle, having lately purchased a piece of land adjoining Aldergate Street, and settled the same upon trustees, to be used as a burial ground for the inhabitants of the townships of Tamworth and Tamworth Castle, and having caused the same to be walled round and consecrated at an expense amounting in the whole to about £1,100. Resolved: that the Council do record their highest sense of Miss Wolferstan's munificence and liberality, and that a copy of this resolution, together with the most cordial thanks of the Council, be conveyed by the mayor to Miss Wolferstan." We understand that this is not the first occasion on which Miss Wolferstan has manifested her generosity, she having, a few years back, purchased piece of land, and settled the same, as a burial ground, in connection with the chapel at Hopwas, near Tamworth.
In November 1851, in his retirement speech, the Mayor again thanked Miss Wolferstan, referring to her as "the Lady Bountiful on the Hill".
For its first 22 years, the cemetery seems to have been known only as the 'New Burial Ground'. It was owned and managed by Trustees, not by the church, although the Vicar and the two Churchwardens were probably among these trustees from the outset.
In June 1856 the London Gazette published a notice of discontinuance of burials at St Editha's, stating:
Forthwith, in Tamworth church and yards, with certain specified exceptions; and in the Roman Catholic burial ground, except so far as is compatible with the observance of the regulations for new burial grounds.
On 21st August 1856, a few months after this announcement, Tamworth Council made an order establishing the terms surrounding the management and use of the New Burial Ground. By these terms, only inhabitants of Tamworth and Tamworth Castle could be buried there. People living in the hamlets around Tamworth, including Bolehall, Glascote, Kettlebrook, and Wilnecote, could not. Instead, they were allowed to be buried in St Editha's churchyard by special arrangement.
We can now fast forward sixteen years. In 1872 an Inspector from the Burial Acts Office arrived to carry out an official inspection of all Tamworth's burial grounds. In the wake of this inspection, a letter arrived from the Home Office, complaining that burials were taking place which did not comply with the 1856 terms. It was clear that a new burial ground was needed to serve both the town and the hamlets.
These events precipitated change. In February 1873, Tamworth Council resolved to provide another burial ground. This resolution set the wheels in motion for what would eventually become Wigginton Road Cemetery. The permanent closure of St Editha's churchyard (with no more exceptions) was scheduled for 1st January 1874, and the New Burial Ground was likely to close in 1877.
From 1873 onwards almost every reference I find gives the name of the graveyard as Aldergate Cemetery. If you find any references to a 'New Burial Ground' after that date, it probably refers to the new Tamworth Cemetery in Wigginton Road - now called Wigginton Road Cemetery. But note, there were other cemeteries being built during this period in the suburbs/hamlets around Tamworth - it is very easy to be misled by references to a new cemetery!
Aldergate Graveyard remained in use until 1876 - a relatively short period of 25 years from its donation to its closure. There were some interesting burials in its final years, for example, Tamworth's first policeman, Charles Hitches, who was appointed to the borough in 1841, was buried there in 1875.
The sealed copy of the Order in Council for the closure of the cemetery was dated 9th December 1876. From this point, the only burials allowed at Aldergate were family members of those who were already interred there, in shared graves and family vaults.
An OS town map was surveyed in 1882, six years after the Aldergate Cemetery was closed for burials. The graveyard's separation from St Editha's is clearly visible. Note The Paddock, which is now the site of the bus station, and the two houses with gardens between the two graveyards, which are now the site of the Library.
In 1885, Aldergate Cemetery remained in the care of trustees, and the the Vicar, Reverend W MacGregor, and the two churchwardens at St Editha's, (who were probably trustees), were following its status with concern. The graves were untidy and neglected, and children were scaling the railings and stealing the flowers. A decision was made to close the graveyard daily between 4pm and 10am, and encourage the community to care for it themselves. There was little change. In 1886 another appeal was made to relatives to tidy the individually fenced graves.
In 1901 the trustees were the Mayor, the Town Clerk, the Vicar, and the churchwardens. That year, the Borough Surveyor applied to take down part of the cemetery wall adjacent to a proposed new road between Church Street and Aldergate (this would become Corporation Street), and to erect dwarf palings on it. The trustees had no objection to the proposal. The bricks were to remain the property of the Trustees, who proposed that the Corporation should keep the cemetery in order and maintain the fences, in accordance with their statutory powers. The Sanitary and Streets Committee agreed to the request of the Trustees, and recommended that the maintenance of the disused cemetery be undertaken by the Burial Board Committee.
By February 1902, the Council had agreed to maintain the cemetery and keep it in order. The opening hours were revised to reflect the seasons, and Mrs Wright of St Editha's Cottages, Church Lane, was appointed as gatekeeper at a wage of 2 shillings a week.The Burial Board Committee inspected the cemetery and immediately swung into action. The Chairman was authorised to prune the trees and ivy, double dig the ground, level it and seed it with grass, lay down some of the insecure gravestones, re-gravel the path, to kerb the path with blue bricks set on edge, to order four seats and some notice boards, and to paint the gates and railings.
In 1906 it was decided that due to the nuisance caused by children in the cemetery it should be kept locked from Monday to Saturday, and opened on Sundays only. However, the Vicar complained that this was against the terms agreed with the council, and the decision was changed so that the cemetery would be open daily from 9am to sunset. The problem with children continued - on one occasion an Alderman observed 25 children running over the tombstones. They decided to involve the police and make examples of some of the older children, but in the meantime the vandalism escalated. After deliberate damage to some crosses in 1909, two boys were brought up before the magistrate. Together with notices banning unaccompanied children, this kept trouble at bay until 1915 when there was more damage. Then in 1917 and again in 1920, there were complaints about the blackening of the gravestones due to unacceptable levels of chimney smoke.
In 1916, a sheep reputedly escaped into the cemetery and was pursued by some boys. However, in 1917 it was proposed that sheep should be grazed in the cemetery to keep the grass short while the war endured. The matter of children playing in the cemetery was raised again, and once more it was decided to keep the gates locked. In 1919 the grass was so long that it was mown to feed horses! In 1926 sheep pasturing was still going on in the cemetery. Initially the council turned a blind eye to it, but after much argument, it was eventually decided that they should be removed.
The view below of St Editha's, taken from Aldergate Cemetery, was published in the feature, "A Bit of Old Tamworth," in March 1836, but was photographed quite some time before that.
Burials of family members continued up to at least 1924 (Joshua Griffiths). I am adding as many as possible to Find a Grave.
The cemetery remained locked, for the most part, until 1941, when the gates and railings were removed for war salvage. This had a terrible consequence. In October 1944, there was an appalling act of vandalism, when about 20 gravestones were wantonly destroyed.
The photo of the graveyard above appeared in the Tamworth Herald in 1950. It must have been taken between 1941 and 1950, because the railings have been removed. The photo illustrated the news of a proposal to turn Aldergate Cemetery into a Garden of Rest. If permission was obtained from the Bishop of Lichfield for the removal of the monuments and tombstones, the Town Council planned to remove them to the shelter of the surrounding walls, to lay out lawns and flower beds, and to provide seats. The scheme was to be spread over a period of years, and the cost would be in the region of £500-600. The goal was to make it as picturesque as the garden between the Minster Pool and the Cathedral at Lichfield. The scheme was approved in July 1950.
In 1951, the centenary of its consecration, the Borough of Tamworth acquired the rights to redevelop the cemetery under the Open Spaces Act 1906, and in July a faculty to move the stones was granted. Only three rows of graves were left undisturbed, along with the Clarson vault, reputedly the only monument which a family refused to move.
In 1970 the cemetery was still run by Trustees, including the Vicar, the Churchwardens and the Parochial Church Council of Tamworth. That year they applied to alter the pathways within the Garden of Rest, to improve access to the new library. And that's how Aldergate Cemetery remains to this day.
It is worth mentioning, in conclusion, that burial records for Aldergate Graveyard in common with several other graveyards in outlying villages, including Hopwas and Hints, were all recorded in St Editha's Parish Burial Register, as if they were in the Churchyard. This is an ongoing source of confusion for family historians trying to work out where their ancestors were buried, and will be a challenge for me when identifying the correct burial locations in Find a Grave.