View source for Ford Park Cemetery

{{Short description|Cemetery in Plymouth, Devon}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox Cemetery
|name=Ford Park Cemetery
|image       = Ford Park Cemetery chapel, Plymouth.jpg
|imagesize   = 300px
|caption     = The Victorian chapel in the cemetery
|established =  1846
|country     =
|location    =  [[Plymouth]], Devon, England
|coordinates
 = {{coord|50|22|59|N|4|8|36|W|display=it}}
|type        =  public
|owner       =  Ford Park Cemetery Trust
|size        =  {{convert|34.5|acre|m2|adj=on}}
|graves      =  about 250,000
|website     =  [http://www.ford-park-cemetery.org/ Ford Park Cemetery Trust]
|findagraveid= 1974110
}}

'''Ford Park Cemetery''' is a {{convert|34.5|acre|m2|adj=on}} cemetery in central [[Plymouth]], England, established by the Plymouth, Stonehouse & Devonport Cemetery Company in 1846 and opened in 1848.<ref name="plymdat">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Cemeteries.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928034235/http://www.plymouthdata.info/CEMETERIES%20CREMATORIA.htm
|archive-date=28 September 2013
|title=Cemeteries and Crematoria|last=Moseley|first=Brian|orig-year=10 April 2008|date=26 September 2013|encyclopedia=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History|publisher=Plymouthdata|access-date=12 February 2015}}</ref> At the time it was outside the boundary of the [[Three Towns]] and was created to alleviate the overcrowding in the churchyards of the local parish churches.<ref name="plymdat" /> Its official name at the time of inception was The Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery (renamed in 2000),<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moseley|first1=Brian|title=Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery|url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Cemeteries%20Crematoria-Plymouth%20Devonport%20Stonehouse%20Cemetery.htm|website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History|access-date=12 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928050445/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Cemeteries%20Crematoria-Plymouth%20Devonport%20Stonehouse%20Cemetery.htm|archive-date=28 September 2013|date=1 September 2013}}</ref> although it is now seldom referred to by that title.

The cemetery was originally {{convert|18|acre|m2}} in size, but a further {{convert|16.5|acre|m2}} were added in 1875.<ref name="nfcf" /> It came into use during one of the largest outbreaks of [[cholera]] in the country and during its first year it saw over 400 burials related to that disease.<ref name="nfcf" /> During Victorian times it was the main cemetery for the Three Towns,<ref name="bbc_trail">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/outdoors/walks/plymouth_cemetary.shtml|title=Trail highlights Victorian past|date=15 April 2005|publisher=BBC Devon|access-date=27 August 2008}}</ref> and it is estimated that approximately a quarter of a million people are buried within its grounds.<ref>{{cite news|title=House sale is a grave undertaking|date=7 March 2007 |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6425949.stm|publisher=BBC|access-date=5 July 2016}}</ref> The older burial records have been deposited with the [[Plymouth and West Devon Record Office]].

Among the more famous graves is that of the Reverend [[Robert Stephen Hawker]], the author of ''The Song of the Western Men''. As at November 2016 there are 769 war graves from the First World War, over 200 of which are in a dedicated naval plot; and 198 war graves of the Second World War (including an unidentified [[Royal Air Force|airman]]) are scattered throughout the site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2086000|title=Ford Park Cemetery (formerly Plymouth Old Cemetery) (Pennycomequick)|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|access-date=27 August 2008}}</ref> A [[Victoria Cross]] (VC) recipient of the [[Crimean War]], Captain [[Andrew Henry (VC)|Andrew Henry]], [[Royal Artillery]], is buried here, as is another VC recipient, of the [[Taiping Rebellion]], Quartermaster [[George Hinckley]], Royal Navy.<ref name=blvch>{{cite web|url=http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/devonshi.htm |title=Devonshire |access-date=2004-11-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041125092218/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/devonshi.htm |archive-date=25 November 2004 }} Burial Locations VC Holders, Devonshire.</ref>

The Victorian chapel building designed by [[John R. Hamilton (architect)|J. R. Hamilton]] and [[James Medland|J. M. Medland]]<ref name="nfcf" /> is [[Listed building|Grade II listed]],<ref name="Herald">{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/push-Ford-Park-Cemetery-funding/article-280957-detail/article.html |title=Last push for Ford Park Cemetery funding |date=20 August 2008 |work=The Herald |publisher=this is Plymouth.co.uk |access-date=27 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505064448/http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/push-Ford-Park-Cemetery-funding/article-280957-detail/article.html |archive-date=5 May 2013 }} (Archived .)</ref> as is the older burial area nearest the chapel including a large circular vault. Until one was severely damaged by enemy air attack during World War II, there was a second (identical) [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformist]] chapel to the right of the unscathed [[Anglican]] building. Both are shown, together with the then abutting farmland and the playing fields of [[Plymouth College]] in a well known 1889 photograph now in the Francis Frith collection under the title 'Plymouth, the cemetery 1889'. Along the north-east side is the connected but walled-off Plymouth Jewish Cemetery.<ref>[https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/37445/plymouth-jewish-cemetery/] CWGC Cemetery report, Plymouth Jewish Cemetery (which contains 4 Commonwealth war graves). See Googlemap.</ref> 

During the 1970s and 80s, poor management, a loss of revenue because few people were paying for the maintenance of plots, and the popularity of cremation, all led to the dilapidation of the site.<ref name="bbc_life">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/04/11/ford_park_cemetery_sg_feature.shtml|title=Bringing life back to a Plymouth cemetery|last=Geddes|first=Stuart|date=11 April 2008|publisher=BBC Devon|access-date=27 August 2008}}</ref> In January 1988, seventeen-year-old Patricia Hicks was murdered in the overgrown cemetery.<ref name="evening_news">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iNpAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3aYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5642,5101506&dq=patricia+hicks&hl=en|title=Graveyard Death Charge|work=Evening Times|date=28 January 1988|access-date=26 April 2011}}</ref> After the original cemetery company went into liquidation and after much public debate, in 2000 a trust was set up which reopened the cemetery,<ref name="bbc_trail" /> made dangerous structures safe, cleared the undergrowth, obtained renovation grants and created a walking trail around some of the graves of notable people.<ref name="bbc_trail" /> The older of the two chapels which is shown above right in a photograph of its unrestored state has now been fully restored and refurbished as a setting for all varieties of religious or secular funeral or memorial services and is also used for concerts and other events.

The cemetery is a member of the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe and the trust was awarded the [[Queen's Award for Voluntary Service]] in 2005.<ref name="nfcf">{{cite web|url=http://www.cemeteryfriends.org.uk/87.html|title=Ford Park Cemetery Trust|publisher=National Federation of Cemetery Friends|access-date=11 October 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010211037/http://www.cemeteryfriends.org.uk/87.html|archive-date=10 October 2008}}</ref> As at 2009, there are further plans for numerous works to restore and improve various parts of the cemetery, aided by the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]], including the renovation of the Anglican chapel,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ford-park-cemetery.org/ |title=Ford Park Cemetery Home – Stop Press! |publisher=Ford Park Cemetery Trust |access-date=11 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007004917/http://www.ford-park-cemetery.org/ |archive-date=7 October 2008 }} (Archived .)</ref> and provision of a memorial to the civilian dead of World War Two.<ref name="Herald" /> It is estimated there are over 10,000 usable grave spaces remaining in the cemetery.<ref name="bbc_trail" /> The cemetery has rapidly become popular again as an attractive convenient and semi-rural setting close to the city centre and the densely populated but fashionable Victorian and Edwardian suburbs.

The City of Plymouth has two large early twentieth century municipal cemeteries at [[Weston Mill]] and [[Efford]], each with chapels and now crematoria and the Drake Memorial Garden is near Elburton.

==Notable burials==
* [[Robert Hawker (poet)|Robert Hawker]] (1803–1875). the talented poet best known for the [[Song of the Western Men]], better known as the Cornish Anthem 'Trelawney'
* Mary Ann Hockaday – a Matron for 40 years at the South Devon and Cornwall Institution for the Blind
* [[Jimmy Peters (rugby)|Jimmy Peters]] (1879–1954). English Rugby Player, notable as the first black man to play rugby for England
* [[Mabel L. Ramsay|Mabel Ramsey]] (1878–1954). Plymouth's first woman surgeon who was the first woman to be appointed Surgeon-Gynaecologist at Plymouth City Hospital.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081007004917/http://www.ford-park-cemetery.org/ Ford Park Cemetery Trust website]
* [https://www.significantcemeteries.org/ Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090503193109/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/archives Plymouth and West Devon Records Office web link]

{{Cemeteries in England}}

[[Category:Cemeteries in Devon]]
[[Category:Plymouth, Devon]]
[[Category:Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England]]