Exploring the world of art, history, science and literature. Through Religion

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Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground

Place

Huntingdon Road, Cambridge

Christianity

1857

A hidden place in the city, where the often secular academic world overlaps with the Christian past and present of the city.

What does it look like?

The burial ground was established in 1857 and the first burial took place there in 1869.

Historic Victorian cemetery, a ‘hidden’ place in the city, contains the graves of many famous people, including the great philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, five members of Charles Darwin’s family, and Nobel Prize winners such as Sir John Cockcroft (Physicist) and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (Biochemist).

Famous names

The historic Victorian cemetery contains the graves of many famous people, including the great philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and Nobel Prize winners such as Sir John Cockcroft (Physicist) and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (Biochemist).

Who, what and where?

The one and a half acre burial ground was established by the then Parish of St Giles’ with St Peter’s in 1857, when extra burial space was needed, as the city of Cambridge expanded in Victorian times.

The burial ground is still in use for the burial of ashes, especially in existing family graves. The building within the grounds was once a Chapel of Ease but is now a stone letter cutting workshop.

Are there links to current religious practices or a modern equivalent?

The burial ground is still in use for burial of ashes, especially in existing family graves. The building within the grounds was once a Chapel of Ease but is now a stone letter cutting workshop.

Why is it significant to the study of religion?

In the Victorian period, only members of the Church of England were usually supposed to be buried in such burial grounds. However, the parish covered much of west Cambridge, a part of the city, where many academics lived, who were not all members of the Church of England, and so they were often buried there. There were few alternatives to burial in a Christian cemetery in the Victorian period and so there are some 2,500 people of every religious denomination and none buried in 1,500 plots there. It is a place where the often secular, [not connected with religion] academic world overlaps with the Christian past and present of the city. However, many of the headstones do bear inscriptions from Christian scripture.

The burials chart the changing nature of this part of the city, which is once again seeing rapid University-led expansion. The parish continues to care for ‘God’s acre’, so the burial ground is maintained in a wildlife friendly way. It is designated a city wildlife site and shows how important these small pockets of relatively undisturbed land are in cities. This is something the Victorians, would have struggled to understand.

Where is it from, where is it now?

The cemetery is located just off Huntingdon Road, near the junction with Storey’s Way in the northwest of Cambridge. It is open for visits during the week.