Rosary Cemetery was the first
non-denominational burial ground in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Its entrance lies on Rosary Road in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
.
History
The cemetery was established in 1819 by Thomas Drummond, a
non-conformist minister. The land was formerly in use as a
market garden
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...
, and presents a broad green open space between the housing areas to the south and the playing fields of the Telegraph Lane schools to the north. The of the cemetery came under the control of the Norwich Corporation in 1954 and it is estimated that about 18,500 people have been buried there since 1821. It was announced in January 2010 that the cemetery had been granted
Grade II* listed status.
Notable burials
Among them are train driver John Prior and fireman James Light, killed in the 1874
Thorpe rail accident
The Thorpe rail accident occurred on 10 September 1874, when two trains were involved in a head-on collision at Thorpe St Andrew in the English county of Norfolk.
The accident occurred on what was then a single-track rail line between Norwich r ...
. The surgeon Emanuel Cooper (1802-78) is also buried in the cemetery in a large
mausoleum. His daughter married the novelist
John Galsworthy.
The cemetery contains war graves of 31 Commonwealth service personnel, 19 from
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 12 from
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 opposing ...
.
CWGC Cemetery Report.
Painters
Leslie Davenport
Frank William Leslie Davenport ARCA (21 April 1905–28 February 1973) was a 20th-century British artist and teacher and a member of the Norwich Twenty Group of painters.
Born in Harrow, London, Harrow the son of Rowland Davenport and Mary E ...
(1905-1973) (one of the
Norwich Twenty Group),
James Stark,
John Thirtle
John Thirtle (baptised 22 June 177730 September 1839) was an English watercolour artist and frame-maker. Born in Norwich, where he lived for most of his life, he was a leading member of the Norwich School of painters.
Much of Thirtle's life i ...
and
John Berney Ladbrooke
John Berney Ladbrooke (31 October 180311 July 1879) was an English landscape painter and lithographer, who was associated with the Norwich School of painters.
Life
Ladbrooke was born in the English county of Norfolk on 31 October 1803. He was th ...
are also buried here.
Gallery
File:Emanuel Cooper mausoleum Rosary Cemetery Norwich.jpg, The mausoleum of surgeon Emanuel Cooper
File:Leslie Davenport Rosary Cemetery Norwich.jpg, The grave of artist Leslie Davenport
Frank William Leslie Davenport ARCA (21 April 1905–28 February 1973) was a 20th-century British artist and teacher and a member of the Norwich Twenty Group of painters.
Born in Harrow, London, Harrow the son of Rowland Davenport and Mary E ...
File:John Prior and James Light Rosary Cemetery Norwich.jpg, The graves of John Prior and James Light
See also
*
Gildencroft Quaker Cemetery, Norwich
References
External links
Photographs of the cemetery
{{Cemeteries in England
Norwich
Cemeteries in Norfolk
Religion in Norfolk