51°26′06″N 2°33′54″W / 51.435°N 2.565°W
Arnos Vale Cemetery (grid reference ST606716) (also written Arno's Vale Cemetery), located in Arnos Vale, Bristol, England, was established in 1837. Its first burial was in 1839. The cemetery followed a joint-stock model, funded by shareholders.[1] It was laid out as an Arcadian landscape with buildings by Charles Underwood.[2] It is listed, Grade II*, on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.[3]
Arnos Vale cemetery is located on the road from Bristol to Bath (A4). The cemetery is located just before Edward Road and Brislington, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from Temple Meads railway station and about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Bristol bus station.
The cemetery includes a number of listed buildings and monuments, including the Grade II* listed Church of England Mortuary Chapel,[4] Nonconformist Mortuary Chapel,[5] and entrance lodges and gates[6] and screen walls to main entrance.[7]
History
The cemetery was designed by Charles Underwood in the style of a Greek Necropolis. Within a few years of its opening in 1837 it became the most fashionable place to be buried in Bristol.[8]
During the 20th century the cemetery fell into disrepair, and local groups began campaigning for its restoration. In 1987 the owner disclosed plans to exhume the bodies and develop the site for housing. Early in the 21st century following a public campaign the site was subject to a compulsory purchase order by Bristol City Council.[8]
In 2003 it was featured on the BBC programme Restoration. The cemetery was a South West region runner-up and has since received a £4.8 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant.[9] The cemetery is undergoing restoration, however the Mortuary Chapel,[10] Entrance Lodges and Gates[11] and Nonconformist Mortuary Chapel[12] remain on the English Heritage Heritage at Risk Register.
Notable people buried at Arnos Vale
- Charles Baggs, Roman Catholic bishop
- Daniel Burges (VC, DSO, Croix de guerre avec Palme (France); Greek Military Cross (2nd Class)), World War I hero
- Roland Brotherhood, engineer and friend of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
- Mary Carpenter, educational and social reformer
- William Day Wills Industrialist & Tobacco Manufacturer
- Gronow Davis (VC), Crimean War hero
- Henry Overton Wills II Industrialist &Tobacco Manufacturer
- Dora Greenwell (1821–1882) poet[13]
- Anthony Norris Groves, missionary
- George Müller, orphanage founder
- George Rawson, hymnwriter
- Elisha Smith Robinson, industrialist, Mayor of Bristol 1866 and benefactor
- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Indian social reformer
- Sir Charles Wathen, clothier, Mayor of Bristol
- Sir Frank William Wills Architect, Surveyor & Mayor of Bristol
- Harry Blanshard Wood (VC, MM), World War I hero
Chhatri of Raja Rammohun Roy
The reformer Raja Rammohun Roy (22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) died at Bristol on 27 September 1833 and was first buried at Stapleton, but was reinterred in 1843 in the newly laid out Arnos Vale cemetery under the mausoleum designed by William Prinsep, which is a copy of a Bengali tomb or chhatri (literally meaning umbrella).[14] According to information available at the cemetery, a commemoration is held annually at this chhatri, attended by Unitarians, Bristol's Lord Mayor and the Indian High Commissioner plus Indians and British who remember with gratitude the works of the "Founder of Modern India".
A previously missing (and unknown) miniature ivory portrait bust of Raja Rammohun Roy was unveiled at the annual commemoration of the death of the Indian religious, social, and educational reformer, and humanitarian, at Arnos Vale cemetery in Bristol, on 22 September 2013. Rammohun Roy challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. The ivory portrait bust of Rammohun Roy made in London in 1832 by the famous ivory carver Benjamin Cheverton (1796-1876), is based on a bust made around the same time by the gifted sculptor George Clarke (1796-1842). The bust is exceptional because Rammohun Roy gave sittings to Clarke (the only time he did this for a sculptor) to enable the bust to be modelled, and Cheverton copied the bust in ivory for George Clarke, who lent his model to Cheverton to enable this to be done. The process employed by Cheverton to make the copy means that it is identical with Clarke’s bust, save that it is on a reduced scale. Clarke’s bust is missing, and this small ivory bust is the finest three-dimensional representation of Rammohun Roy that exists, since it reflects exactly what was observed when the great man sat to Clarke to have his bust modelled.[15][16][17][18]
War Graves
More than 500 British Commonwealth servicemen and women from both World Wars commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are buried or listed at the cemetery, mostly from military hospitals of the area. Most of the 356 servicemen from World War I are buried in the 'Soldiers Corner' plot near the main entrance. Special memorials commemorate one casualty whose grave could not be located and another buried at Bedminster Church Cemetery whose grave could not be maintained. There are 149 servicemen and women from World War II buried here, all in scattered graves apart from a group in a plot in the upper part of the cemetery who were from the Naval Hospital in Barrow Gurney. Those whose graves are not marked by headstones are listed on four bronze panels on a Screen Wall memorial.[19][20] Nearly 70,000 casualties from the Western Front were brought to Bristol on trains and in hospital ships, "and the relatively small number of servicemen buried in Bristol indicates that, once a wounded serviceman reached England, his chances of survival were quite good".[20]
The memorial, designed by W H Watkins, commissioned by the British Red Cross Society and paid for by public subscription, was unveiled Emily, Duchess of Beaufort and dedicated by the Bishop of Bristol, the Right Rev George Nickson on 21 October 1921.[20] It consists of a central gallery of five arches (with the four bronze panels on the wall directly behind the two pairs of arches either side of the central arch) and two flanking walls.[19] On which are carved the inscriptions:[20]
| Proclaim throughout the realm | ||
| The glorious dead | Ye who pass this monument | |
| AD 1914-1918 | That we who died serving her | |
| Rest here content [a] |
Archives
Burial registers are held by the Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust.[22] Records of the Friends of Arnos Vale Cemetery are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 45068) (online catalogue).
Grade II listed Monuments
- 1852 Monument to James Bartlett[23]
- 1857 Monument to Thomas Lucas[24]
- 1857 Monument to Francis Barber Ogden[25]
- 1860 Monument to John Tilly[26]
- 1880 Obelisk memorial[27]
- 1890 Monument to Heber Denty[28]
- Monument 2 metres east of Tilly monument[29]
- The War Memorial[30]
- Monument to Francis Bennett.[31]
- Monument to Mary Breillat.[31]
- Monument to Challenger Family.[31]
- Monument to Susannah Clark.[31]
- Monument to Thomas Daniel Doddrell.[31]
- Monument to Lieut. James Gardner.[31]
- Monument to Gwyer Family.[31]
- Monument to Harwood.[31]
- Monument to Thomas Gadd Matthews.[31]
- Monument to Melsom Family.[31]
- Monument next to Tilly monument.[31]
- Monument to Elizabeth Paddon.[31]
- Monument to PC Richard Hill.[31]
- Monument to Rev. John Pratt.[31]
- Monument to Thomas Renolds.[31]
- Monument to Dr Thomas Tovey Smart.[31]
- Monument to Isabella Weston.[31]
- Monument to Rev. Walter Whiting.[31]
- Monument to Joseph Williams.[31]
Notes
- ^ This is very similar to the epitaph on the earlier Wagon Hill Cemetery Monument near Ladysmith in South Africa which is dedicated to 14 members of the Imperial Light Horse who fell at the Battle of Wagon Hill during the Bore War, and was inspired by the famous epitaph of Simonides at Thermopylae.[21]
References
- ^ "Harriet Jordan, 2003 The register of parks and gardens: cemeteries". English Heritage. Archived from the original on 8 December 2006. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol, England". Parks & Gardens UK. Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS). Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Arnos Vale Cemetery". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Church of England Mortuary Chapel". Images of England. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Nonconformist Mortuary Chapel". Images of England. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Entrance Lodges and Gates to Arno's Vale Cemetery". Images of England. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Screen walls to main entrance". Images of England. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Mellor, Penny (2013). Inside Bristol: Twenty Years of Open Doors Day. Redcliffe Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-1908326423.
- ^ "Arnos Vale Awarded £4.8 Million Heritage Lottery Funding". Nicholas Pearsons Associates, 2006. Archived from the original on 9 December 2006. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Mortuary Chapel, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bath Road". English Heritage Register of Buildings at Risk. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
- ^ "Entrance Lodges and Gates, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bath Road". English Heritage Register of Buildings at Risk. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
- ^ "Nonconformist Mortuary Chapel, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bath Road". English Heritage Register of Buildings at Risk. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
- ^ William Dorling (1885). Memoirs of Dora Greenwell. J. Clarke. p. 244.
- ^ "Tomb of Raja Rammohun Roy Bahadoor". Images of England. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Sonwalkar, Prasun (23 September 2013). "Rare bust of Rammohun Roy unveiled in Britain". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Rare bust of Rammohun Roy unveiled in Britain". Daijiworld Media. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Ghose, Chandreyee (29 September 2013). "The Rajah rediscovered on reel". The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Basu, Shrabani (29 September 2013). "Portrait of a reformer". The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Bristol (Arnos Vale) Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 2013. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d The Bristol Post (21 October 2011). "The memorial that ensures we will never forget our soldiers". Express and Echo. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Vandiver, Elizabeth (2010), Stand in the Trench, Achilles: Classical Receptions in British Poetry of the Great War Classical Presences, Oxford University Press, p. lxii, ISBN 9780191609213
- ^ "Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust webpage". Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Monument to James Bartlett". Images of England. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Monument to Thomas Lucas". Images of England. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Monument to Francis Barber Ogden". Images of England. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Monument to John Tilly". Images of England. Archived from the original on 31 October 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Obelisk memorial". Images of England. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Monument to Heber Denty". Images of England. Archived from the original on 10 December 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Monument 2 metres east of Tilly monument". Images of England. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "War Memorial". Images of England. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Listed Monuments". Arnos Vale. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
External links
