Jesmond Old Cemetery Opens Its Gates for Heritage Open Days
The volunteer Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery are leading guided tours of the 1834 burial ground for Heritage Open Days, weeks after being named a North East history hero.
There is a quiet corner of Jesmond where the city's story is written in stone. This month the volunteers who care for Jesmond Old Cemetery are throwing open its gates, leading guided tours as part of the national Heritage Open Days festival.
Two tours are running, on 17 and 20 September. Both were snapped up well in advance and are now fully booked, a measure of how much appetite there is locally for the hidden histories the Friends have spent years piecing together.
A Victorian burial ground with deep roots
The cemetery traces its origins to 1834, when a group of Newcastle worthies met at the Guildhall and formed the Newcastle General Cemetery Company to lay out a new burial ground in what were then open fields at Jesmond. The renowned Tyneside architect John Dobson was engaged to design its buildings, including the striking twin chapels and archway that still front the site today. The first burials took place in 1836.
Nearly two centuries on, the cemetery is a Grade II listed landscape, and Dobson himself lies buried within it. Its weathered headstones record shipbuilders, engineers, ministers and ordinary Novocastrians whose lives shaped the city.
The volunteers behind the stories
Caring for all of this is the Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery, a volunteer group formed in 2008. They research the people buried here, conserve the monuments and share what they find through walks, talks and tours like these.
Their work was recognised recently when the Friends were named the North East winner of the inaugural "Everyday History Heroes" awards, run by Heritage Open Days and family history website Findmypast, and launched by the historian David Olusoga. The award celebrates sites that champion the stories of ordinary people, which is exactly what these volunteers do.
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The September tours are fully booked, but the Friends run walks and talks throughout the year. Keep an eye on the Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery website for future dates and details of how to get involved.
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