Kensington Congregational Cemetery
Photographed April 2008
HEANES, Samuel & Amelia & Alfred & Robert & Ada Helen
A CEMETERY THAT NOBODY WANTS
No one wants a 105-year-old cemetery near the corner of High and Maesbury streets, Kensington.
Property of the Congregational Union, the cemetery has fallen into a shocking state of. neglect. When I visited the site this week I found the whole area over grown with shrubs end trees. Grass several feet high hides most of the graves and tomb stones, some of which are falling down. Only a few yards of the front wooden fence is left standing.
'Problem'
The secretary of the Congregational Union, the Rev. E. G. King, said today the cemetery had been a problem to the Church for many years. 'The cemetery was associated with a Congregational church on the corner of Maesbury and High streets,' he said. 'The church was later sold to the Seventh Day Adventists, and the cemetery, which was closed by public proclamation in 1864, was left to us, as trustees — but we did not want it.' 'Only those who held leases have been buried in the cemetery since then. There have been only four burials this century. The first bur ial was in 1849 and the last in 1947.' Mr. King said money was not available to keep the cemetery in proper order. It was usually cleaned up every year, but a storm blew the fence down last March, and nothing had been done about it. 'I believe the cemetery was offered to Kensington and Norwood Council eight or nine years ago, but they refused to accept it,' Mr. King said.
'No one wants it, and we don't just know what to do about it.' The town clerk of Kensington and Norwood, Mr. S. R. Appelbee, said: 'It is the responsibility of the Church to look after the cemetery. 'The council has drawn the attention of the Church to the condition of the cemetery several times, and it has been cleaned up periodically.'
The Mail Saturday 25 September 1954 page 18
No one wants a 105-year-old cemetery near the corner of High and Maesbury streets, Kensington.
Property of the Congregational Union, the cemetery has fallen into a shocking state of. neglect. When I visited the site this week I found the whole area over grown with shrubs end trees. Grass several feet high hides most of the graves and tomb stones, some of which are falling down. Only a few yards of the front wooden fence is left standing.
'Problem'
The secretary of the Congregational Union, the Rev. E. G. King, said today the cemetery had been a problem to the Church for many years. 'The cemetery was associated with a Congregational church on the corner of Maesbury and High streets,' he said. 'The church was later sold to the Seventh Day Adventists, and the cemetery, which was closed by public proclamation in 1864, was left to us, as trustees — but we did not want it.' 'Only those who held leases have been buried in the cemetery since then. There have been only four burials this century. The first bur ial was in 1849 and the last in 1947.' Mr. King said money was not available to keep the cemetery in proper order. It was usually cleaned up every year, but a storm blew the fence down last March, and nothing had been done about it. 'I believe the cemetery was offered to Kensington and Norwood Council eight or nine years ago, but they refused to accept it,' Mr. King said.
'No one wants it, and we don't just know what to do about it.' The town clerk of Kensington and Norwood, Mr. S. R. Appelbee, said: 'It is the responsibility of the Church to look after the cemetery. 'The council has drawn the attention of the Church to the condition of the cemetery several times, and it has been cleaned up periodically.'
The Mail Saturday 25 September 1954 page 18