Newbury graves come back to life
A section of Newbury's Newtown Road Cemetery is to open to the public in 2010, for the first time since 2000. An open day was held in April 2009, at which this carved angel was found hidden under a thick covering of ivy.
The cemetery, which was created in 1847, includes the graves of many famous Newbury names. It is also filled with examples of Victorian statuary, which all carried symbolic meaning for Victorians. This angel would have signified a guardian of the dead.
The carved drapes covering this urn represent funeral shrouds. The urn is a Greek symbol of mourning which also symbolizes the body as a vessel of the soul.
This funeral urn is set under a yew tree. Yew trees are commonly found in English churchyards. The trees have long been associated with graveyards, possibly due to earlier pagan rituals, in which the yew was worshipped for its longevity.
This scroll gravestone would have been a symbol of the scriptures to the Victorians. Newtown Road Cemetery graves also feature Masonic symbols, the characters for alpha and omega, meaning the beginning and the end of life, and ivy, signifying friendship.
This gravestone features a car wheel, and commemorates James George Mann, who died in November 1922 aged 19. It is believed that he may have been an early racing car driver.
The graveyard was created by Newbury Town Council, and includes the graves of both Anglicans and dissenters, as well as many child and pauper graves.
A detail on the grave showing clasped hands means friendship or refers to the husband and wife dynamic. It can also mean the hand of God reaching down from the heavens, and the hand of the deceased reaching up to grab it in greeting.
The open book guarded by this angel is used to represent the knowledge which the dead possess and could teach the living. It could also mean faith, prayer, knowledge or memory.
The graveyard is also a haunt for wildlife, including starlings, tawny owls, varieties of bats, bugs and plants.
Edward Pellew Plenty was one of the first Royal Airforce pilots, and flew in the First World War from September 1915 to May 1916. He was twice mentioned in dispatches before dying on active service in 1918. There are a number of war graves in the cemetery.
The cemetery is expected to open in 2010 thanks to the Friends of Newbury Cemetery, who have lobbied for it to be re-opened to the public.
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