Cemetery celebrating city history

A postcard view of the cemetery entrance circa 1900

The largest municipal cemetery in Wales is the subject of a book published to mark its 150th anniversary.

Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff opened in 1859 in response to the first Burial Act prompted by a cholera epidemic.

A string of municipal burial grounds were opened across the UK when churches and chapels were told to stop using their yards for public health reasons.

The site covering more than 100 acres includes memorials to many of Cardiff's business and civic leaders.

Boxing champion "Peerless" Jim Driscoll and airship pioneer Captain Ernest Willows are among the notables buried there, along with a number of war heroes.

Louisa Maud Evans, a young girl who died in a freak ballooning accident during the Cardiff Exhibition of 1896, is also interred at Cathays beneath a memorial paid for by public subscription.

An open day organised by the Friends of Cathays Cemetery and Cardiff Bereavement Services included the unveiling of a plaque, guided heritage walks, stone carving displays and a children's storyteller.

It also served as the launch event for a book by local historian Nick Davey, Cathays Cemetery on its 150th Anniversary.

Cathays is the third largest municipal cemetery in the UK and the largest in Wales.

A £100,000 project to renovate the twin chapels is under way

As well as a rich source of local history, the grounds are recognised as a valuable nature reserve, with a conservation policy in place to preserve a natural habitat for flora and fauna not found elsewhere in Cardiff.

The cemetery's most notable landmarks include the Gothic perpendicular-style twin chapels - one used by Anglicans, the other by non-conformists.

Together with a central bell tower, they were built in 1859, the year the cemetery itself opened.

After falling into disrepair, a £100,000 renovation project was launched in January 2009 to restore the chapels to their former glory.