Introduction
This short blog posts presents a few photographs of the chapels and the lodge at Kilburn Road Cemetery in Oakham. The buildings are rather fine examples of Victorian Cemetery building design and perhaps deserve more recognition than appears to have been the case in the past. The linked pair of chapels are Grade II listed and were designed and built in 1860. by Pearson Bellamy and J Spence Hardy of Lincoln. The two chapels are separated by a driveway beneath a tower and spire. The official listing describes them as “an outstanding example of a plan-type frequently used to combine conformist and non-conformist mortuary chapels and found from the 1850’s onwards“. The lodge at the entrance to the cemetery is also Grade II listed with accommodation and office space either side of the entrance archway. Of particular interest is the large board with extracts from (presumably) the original cemetery regulations.
Photographs of the chapels and lodge, and a transcript of the Regulation board, are given below.
The chapels
The Lodge
Transcript of the Regulations Board
EXTRACTS FROM REGULATIONS.
2d. Notice of Interments is to be given between the hours of Ten & Six o’clock to the Registrar, to whom all fees & charges are to be paid before any work is begun.
10. All materials, Grave Stones, & Monuments, must be conveyed into the Burial Ground by hand, or on carts or trucks with wheels of not less than four inch tire.
16. Every Person who shall willfully destroy or injure any building, wall, or fence, belonging to the Cemetery, or destroy or injure any tree, or plant therein, or who shall daub, or disfigure any wall thereof, or put up any bill therein, or on any wall thereof, or willfully destroy, injure or deface any Monument, Tablet, Inscription or Gravestone within the Cemetery, or do any other willful damage therein, shall forfeit to the said Burial Board for every such offence a sum not exceeding five pounds.
And every person who shall play at any game or sport, or discharge fire arms, save at a military funeral, in the Cemetery, or who shall willfully and unlawfully disturb any persons assembled in the Cemetery for the purpose of burying any body therein, or who shall be guilty of riotous, violent, or indecent behaviour, or who shall commit any nuisance within the Cemetery, shall forfeit to the said Burial Board for every such offence a sum not exceeding five pounds.
17. The Grounds will be open to the public on Sundays from 2P.M. to sunset, and on weekdays from 9A.M. until sunset, but children under Ten years of age, will not be admitted except under the care of a responsible attendant, and all persons will be expected to refrain from touching the shrubs or flowers, and to observe perfect decorum in all respects; and any person who shall be found smoking on the Ground, or conducting himself in a disorderly manner shall be forthwith expelled from the Cemetery, and the Keeper has authority for that purpose. Dogs are not allowed to enter on the Ground.
20. The receipt or demand of any Gratuity, fee or unauthorized charge by any servant of the Board will subject him to immediate dismissal.
