Histon Road Cemetery

History of Histon Road cemetery

The cemetery, 1843-4, was one of the earliest private cemeteries and was laid out by John Claudius Loudon. It was promoted by the General Cemetery Company of which Josiah Chater, by the 1870s, was a shareholder. The ground was unconsecrated and was in much demand by Nonconformist burials.  Josiah would take his children to see the vault of his uncle, William Adams.

In 1841 the Town Council accepted the idea that a public cemetery for Cambridge was necessary. In October 1842 the Cambridge General Cemetery Company was formed. It was decided to buy a piece of land from Cambridge  to Histon belonging to George Foster. The sum paid was £400.

It was calculated that there could be up to 5,000 to 6,000 interments and that would give the investors a sufficient return on their money. The design by Loudon appears to have been a success both as a place of burial and also as a place of public resort for the middle classes.

Listed Building 1126200

See Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge by Twigs Way, Cambridge Local History Society 2000.

1936 the borough surveyor gave a series of reports on the cemetery. It was found that repairs were generally required. It was a decided a custodian was required and Mr Pryor was appointed custodian.

1935 – 1947

Mr Pryor was superintendent during this time. The family lived at the Cemetery Lodge and because it was ARP post it had a telephone.

1954 – 1959

Mr Martin was the custodian. YW sent this note about her father and their family in 2025:

My family lived at the lodge house; my father Mr Martin was the last custodian (1954 to 1958/9). He dug the graves, unlocked the front gates for funerals (we children had to stay indoors) & he kept the grounds tidy. (Dad’s sister & family lived at The Lodge House, Mill Rd Cemetery – Mr G Richardson). With two young children Mum made university scarves on her Singer treadle machine at home for a firm off Victoria Rd. The different coloured fabrics were torn into strips of varying widths & machined together. The pieces left over were made into rag rugs. Downstairs there was a living room with a range & another room “for best.” The kitchen & bathroom were in a side extension with an “office” off the other side overlooking a yard. The spiral staircase was in the turret up to two bedrooms. There was a grassed garden surrounded by a privet hedge. I remember the chapel in the centre of the grounds. I cried when they demolished it with a wrecking ball. Mum was angry that she had to rescue a family bible from it before it was destroyed. I went to a  “pre-school” on the corner of Harvey Goodwin Avenue near St Luke’s church then to St. Lukes Infant school on the other side of Victoria Road. There was a shop on the opposite corner that had a pulley system to send cash from the tills in screw top metal canisters to central cashiers office.  We moved from Histon Road in 1958/9 when the Cambridge Corporation decided to close the position of custodian. We were re-housed off Newmarket Rd near to the cemetery & us children, went to The Priory School, Galfrid Rd. ( As too did my own children.)

1957 a report determined that the mortuary chapel was in urgent need of repair. The £250 required was not available and the chapel was pulled down.

1980 the Lodge was bought by the Californian writer Charles Alveson.

There is a Wikipedia entry. See also A Community Remembers: Histon Road p.48

2021

Sketching Cambridge by Michael Large