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Written by Nicholas Chilton
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Jul 01, 2004 at 12:00 AM |
Beckett Street Cemetery is divided into two sections, one for Anglicans (the Consecrated portion) and one for Nonconformists (the Unconsecrated or General portion). The line of division runs roughly east-west along the middle of the cemetery, and it is marked at regular intervals throughout by short pencil-shaped stone posts. The Consecrated half is to the south of this line, nearer to the main entrance of St James's Hospital.
Each grave plot has a number on the cemetery map, but few are numbered on the ground. The consecutive numbering begins in the south-west corner (Consecrated portion) and turns at the division line to run back to the boundary wall of the cemetery. In this way it zigzags through the Consecrated portion to the far end. The last grave on this side is No. 13560. The numbering then recommences at the beginning of the Unconsecrated portion with No. 13561, and continues in the same zigzag manner to the last grave on this side (No. 27120). Thus it will be seen that the direction of the numbering in any row in either portion is always opposite to that in the row before and the row after. The first 500 numbers in the Consecrated portion have not been used, as they were occupied by the lodge and outbuildings and by the masons' yard and spoil area. It should be noted that Beckett Street Cemetery is not square but trapezoidal, and this results in some irregular rows. A few graves, notably near the former chapels, have a and b numbers.
The Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery have had many memorials along path edges carved with the plot number and an arrow indicating the direction of the numbering. These numbers will be found on memorials on one side or other of the main paths and of the division line (having to choose sound, upright stones may mean that the numbered memorial is not directly on the path edge, or that the row could not be numbered at all). Numbers are normally carved on the back of the memorial, sometimes on the side facing the path or on the top. Elsewhere, especially at the west end of the cemetery, large white numbers painted by the Department of Cemeteries to identify headstones as part of the proposed clearance scheme still survive, although no direction is indicated. 'Guinea graves' (rows of similar stones massed together) have their number on a plinth at the foot of the headstone and these numbers can easily be used as a finding aid to other graves.
Plot numbers for burials can be found in the Burial Index. The grave can be located at the cemetery by counting plots (not just headstones!) from the nearest numbered stone, allowing 3 feet 3 inches width for each grave. Headstones can be at the east end of the plot facing west, or the other way round - thus, stones which seem at first sight to be in the same row may be in neighbouring rows. About 7,600 plots out of the 27,000 have memorials
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Last Updated ( Oct 26, 2006 at 12:12 PM )
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