We are gradually restoring Teignmouth Old Cemetery which has a number associated activities:
Grave Clearance
Removing the overgrowth from graves so that they are duly respected and accessible has always been one of our main aims.. This is LOTS of HARD work, with years of bramble, ivy and anthills to be cleared. With over 13,000 people buried in over 8,000 graves we reckon to have cleared about 40% of the 12-acre site.
War Graves
We have a contract with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to maintain 49 war graves. In 2018 we marked the 100th anniversary of WW1 with a special service in the cemetery and the erection of a display board to commemorate those who died.
Green Space
We have sourced around a dozen benches, located in different areas of the cemetery, to allow people simply to sit and enjoy the tranquillity, fitting with the original Victorian concept of these “new” cemeteries being enjoyed as a natural park by everyone in the community.
A Natural Space
Once on a hill-side out of town, the cemetery is now surrounded by housing developments. So we also want to preserve the cemetery as an oasis of bio-diversity. We are careful to conserve the wide variety of wildflowers and have also commissioned flower, tree and lichen and moth surveys. Most recently we have created an additional special wildflower area.
Adding colour
We have also added our own colour by planting up graves with a range of plants and creating more formal borders in the areas surrounding the main buildings. This led to our taking part in Teignmouth in Bloom for several years, securing this year a second place for our jubilee display.