West Street Cemetery (also known as Farnham Civil Cemetery) on West Street in

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

is one of four cemeteries in the Farnham area owned and maintained by Farnham Town Council. The two Cemetery chapels have been

Grade II 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 ...

listed building 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 ...

s on the

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

History

A Burial Board was formed in Farnham in 1853 with the view to opening a cemetery in the town. The Board originally considered three plots of land in Farnham and at first accepted land at Willey Mill from Charles Knight; however, the total cost including the building of the two chapels would have cost nearly £3,500 and the Vestry would only sanction £3000. In May 1855 the Vestry suggested an alternative piece of land from Knight but the negotiations broke down so a plot of 15.8 acres in West Street was eventually bought from Thomas Pearce at a cost of £1200 plus £125 to buy out a Mr Mathers, a tenant on the site at the time. The Cemetery Lodge located at the original gates was built by Goddards of East Street in Farnham. The Cemetery opened in 1856. A Richard Wooderson was appointed Sexton on £10 per annum, and he moved into the Lodge on 1 May 1856 with the first burial taking place on 3 May that year; during the first decade of the Cemetery's existence there were about 80 to 90 burials a year. A newspaper report of 1931 records that four men were employed at the Cemetery. The Lodge became the first project of the Farnham Trust; the building having been condemned by Farnham Urban District Council (FUDC) the members of the Farnham Trust leased the building from FUDC, restored it and let it to a tenant. By 1980 additional restoration work was needed when internal dry rot was found. A long lease from Waverley District Council was obtained and the Trust then sold the lease. The Lodge is now privately owned, and a new lodge has been built at the new entrance further along on the West Street frontage. In about 1870 the two chapels were built, one for

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

services and the other for

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

services. The Cemetery came under the control of the Joint Burial Committee in 1895 and Farnham Council on 27 July 1926. In 1947 an additional area of 16.2 acres was obtained of which 9.6 acres were turned over to the Cemetery for use as an additional area for burials. This new burial ground is beyond a vintage brick wall which bisects the two halves of the Cemetery. A report in 1947 records that common graves with a single burial at 6 ft could be reused after about 14 years. After passing into the hands of Waverley District Council it was transferred to Farnham Town Council in 2006. The West Street Garden of Reflection is a quiet area where people may sit and reflect. There are a number of military burials of all three Services maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

- 23 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 17 from World War II.Farnham West Street Cemetery - Churches of Surrey Index: A guide to Churches and Graveyards in Surrey for family historians
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The Cemetery Chapels

The Cemetery chapels were built of random rubble with

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

window surrounds and a slate roof in about 1870 in the Gothic style. The front has two gables divided by a central gabled bell-cote while the rear elevation has three gables. The chapels were provided with plain wooden altars and pews. By 2013 the chapels were disused and a meeting was held to discuss their future - whether they should be converted for use as workshops, homes or community centres. Today (2019) the Chapels are used by a local designer as a workshop.West Street Chapel of Rest - Farnham Town Council website
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Notable burials

John Morgan Cobbett John Morgan Cobbett (13 November 1800 – 13 February 1877) was a Conservative Party and Liberal Party politician. Trained as a barrister, he was the second son of the English pamphleteer, farmer, journalist and Member of Parliament William ...

(1800-1877), son of William Cobbett and MP for Oldham (1872-1877) * Mike Hawthorn (1929–1959), British racing driver who became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958

References

External links

West Street Cemetery
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Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Street Cemetery Farnham Cemeteries in Surrey Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England Buildings and structures in Farnham 1856 establishments in England