The History pages of the Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries website are full of fascinating information collected and put together by members of the CSC project. For example:
In 1860, on the 16th June, the headlines in the Western Times proclaimed ‘CHURCHYARD DESECRATION AT SIDMOUTH: ANCESTORS’ BONES SOLD FOR MANURE!! COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ‘ … It shook Sidmouth and drew further attention to the fact that the churchyard had very nearly reached capacity.
An added problem with burials in Sidmouth was that although Non-Conformists had the right to be buried in the churchyard they could not have a service performed at the grave.
With this background we can well imagine that residents of Sidmouth welcomed the order that the churchyard be closed and a new cemetery for all be built. A Burial Board was formed in 1877.
What followed on from these events is related in a new report on Sidmouth Cemetery 1875 to 1879, which has just been added to the pages of the CSC website. We are grateful for the considerable amount of research undertaken:

The content on this page has been created by Liz Dicker of the Cherishing Sidmouth Cemeteries group, from the Sidmouth Museum archives. We are very grateful to her being allowed to use it and acknowledge her copyright for an original piece of work.
SIDMOUTH CEMETERY 1875 TO 1879
Compiled from articles in the monthly Lethaby’s Sidmouth Journal which closed in 1881 and was replaced by the Sidmouth Herald. The text, an unconventional combination of first person and abridged newspaper accounts, reduces the mass of material from the elegant wordiness of Victorian times to a more practical length for today’s time-poor reader.
This study is divided into 2 sections: 1. 1875 Dr Pullin’s sensational report and the Home Office’s involvement and 2. The drive to create a new cemetery for all persuasions.
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