Chapel at Tunbridge Wells Borough cemetery - geograph

The Kent and Sussex Crematorium and Cemetery is a crematorium and

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

in the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Background

As a quickly developing and popular

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

, the town of Tunbridge Wells did not gain its first church until 1829, when the

Decimus Burton Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Reg ...

designed

Holy Trinity Church Holy Trinity Church may refer to: Albania * Holy Trinity Church (Berat), Berat County * Holy Trinity Church, Lavdar, Opar, Korçë County Armenia * Holy Trinity Church, Yerevan Australia * Garrison Church, Sydney, South Wales, also known as ''H ...

opened. The town gained its first cemetery,

Woodbury Park Cemetery Woodbury may refer to: Geography Antarctica *Woodbury Glacier, a glacier on Graham Land, British Antarctic Territory Australia *Woodbury, Tasmania, a locality in Australia England * Woodbury, Bournemouth, an area in Dorset *Woodbury, East Devon ...

in 1849, laid out over and consecrated as ''Trinity Cemetery''. However, as the town's expansion quickened, and with no additional land into which to expand the grounds, Woodbury Park proved too small. Although burials were continued to be allowed in family plots post 1873, the last burial took place there in 1934. It is now

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

After Tunbridge Wells town corporation had procured lands on the northern edge of

Frant Frant is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, on the Kentish border about three miles (5 km) south of Royal Tunbridge Wells. When the iron industry was at its height, much of the village was owned ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

/southern edge of the town, the initially named Frant Forest Cemetery opened in 1873. It was laid out over an initial site by the town

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

William Brentnall, who had originally been recruited to rebuild the drainage system around the town. Bretnall was later buried in the same grounds. The co-located crematorium was opened in 1959. Enlarged twice and now covering over , today the grounds house over 44,000 burials. In June 2014, a new Friends of Tunbridge Wells Cemetery association were formed. The cemetery contains the

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

of 72 Commonwealth service personnel of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and 63 of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Notable burials

John Duncan Grant Colonel John Duncan Grant (28 December 1877 – 20 February 1967) was a British Indian Army officer who was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth for ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

(ashes) *

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the First Doctor, first incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, ...

, actor, the first

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

(ashes) * Nikolai Legat, premier danseur, teacher, choreographer and caricaturist.Nikolai and Sergei Legat
on the website ''petipasociety.com'' * Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat, prima ballerina, teacher and choreographer. * Mantovani, musician and conductor

References

External links

Official websiteFriends of Tunbridge Wells Cemetery
{{Crematoria in England 1873 establishments in England Cemeteries in Kent Buildings and structures in Royal Tunbridge Wells Crematoria in England Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England