The Arnos Vale Cemetery in the heart of Bristol is the South West’s oldest garden cemetery – and demonstrates that cemeteries can be beautiful outdoor spaces.
This wonderful place is also a showcase for how we can be properly managing churchyards and cemeteries.
A member of the Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries has just paid a visit to the cemetery – and has sent in their personal observations which are given below with permission:
We went to Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol last week. It’s big, has a café, gift shop, exhibition, chapel where they were setting up for a wedding breakfast. It’s run by a charity and has had a volunteer group for 38 years. It’s in a different league size wise.
The Regulations are from the 1st May 1926 when you were not allowed to take a Perambulator into the cemetery on a Sunday.
However, they have had a dogs on lead policy for 99 years and their fines are a bit more than East Devon, up to a maximum of £1,000! The same goes for dog fines for Bath and North East Somerset and the Mendip Council areas where dog rules apply.
Here are some of the features of the cemetery captured during the visit:
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Thank you for the very interesting coverage from a very interesting place!