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Knowle Hospital Cemetery Overview
by Sue and Ted Fitzgerald
Location
This disused burial ground is situated south of the village of Wickham in the
county of Hampshire, UK. The national grid reference is SU 561098.
Background
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Knowle Hospital was built to house the "insane poor" of
Hampshire in 1852. The cemetery and the mortuary chapel were consecrated
on 23 October, 1856. Prior to that, patients who died were buried in the
pauper cemetery in Fareham. However, families could always take the
bodies of relatives for burial elsewhere. Besides patients, hospital
staff and residents of the few houses around the hospital were buried
there. The site was used for burials until 1971.
The Chaplain to the Hospital reported to the Quarter Sessions each
year. These reports show that he wanted the cemetery to be extended in
1876, 1878, 1886 and 1896. Plans held by the Diocesan Registrar (available for reference on this
web-site) show the original design of the site and each extension that
actually happened (1878, 1910 and 1940).
In 1886, it was decided that all the graves should be marked and that
their locations should be recorded. Prior to this date pauper burials
were recorded in a register, but the burial site was not marked and
there was no link to the entry in the register.
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The Records
| All the known public records concerning the hospital are kept at the
County Records Office in Winchester. The most informative for the
cemetery are the "Registers of Burials". The earliest register
dates from 7 February 1877. However, the first entry is number 897, so
there were 896 burials on site prior to this date, but no records are
extant. The registers have a "plot number" column. This column is
blank until January 1886, at which time numbering starts beginning with
1. In general, the column remains blank for non-patients. For patients,
there are usually two entries with the same plot number. However, during
certain periods, there are three or sometimes four entries for the same
number. This presumably indicates that more than one person was buried
in the same plot, but never on the same day.
There are several errors in the numbering of the entries, but
allowing for these, the registers show that 5,578 people are buried in
Knowle Hospital Cemetery.
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The Site
| The current site is on two levels: the lower has the earlier graves
and the chapel, the higher has the more recent graves. The boundary to
the site was not clearly defined when I first visited but Berkeley
Homes, the developers of the new Knowle Village, have now erected a
stout wooden fence on all sides of the site. On the lower site there are 14 memorials that record names and dates.
The earliest is from 1860 and the latest is from 1916. Of these, three
are definitely memorials for hospital workers. The other 11 appear to be
memorials for patients.
There were also sixteen iron crosses each about three feet tall with
a number on each side. These appear to be the only surviving grave
markers from the period immediately following the decision to mark the
pauper graves in 1886. I have linked these markers back to entries for
56 patients in the registers. The earliest of these entries is for March
1886 and the latest is for March 1914. Given that around 4,000 burials
of this type took place up to 1914, the vast majority of the crosses
have been lost.
On the upper site there are 16 memorials that record names and dates.
The earliest is from 1915 and the latest is from 1967. Of these, four
are definitely memorials for hospital workers. The other 12 appear to be
memorials for patients. There are 30 plain concrete grave markers with
numbers on them. These markers were originally upright with a number on
both sides. However, most of them have been moved at some point and laid
flat. Again, I have linked these markers back to entries for patients in
the registers. The earliest entry is for December 1945 and the latest is
for November 1971. Local lore has it that this part of the cemetery
contains war graves. This is untrue and the story has probably arisen
because the regular arrangement of the identical plain concrete markers
once resembled a war cemetery.
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Concern
| My main concern was for the iron crosses. There were so few of them,
they were not fixed to anything and none was in its original place. They
are very portable and, while they have little monetary value, they are
curios which could be removed, for example, to decorate a drinking
establishment, as have other monuments and milestones. While they cannot
be considered as individual memorials, they are the only
remaining examples of how society treated a particular section of the
population and they recall the lives of 4,000 people. These crosses are not "memorials" in that they do not show
names, dates or descriptions; they marked burial plots. They no longer
fulfil that function as they have all been moved.
I was able to persuade the Diocese of the need to house these crosses
securely and in July 2001 a "Permission for a Temporary
Reordering" was issued by the Rural Dean and the crosses have been
moved to a place of safekeeping. A long-term solution is still needed.
They could be:
- Securely mounted in Knowle Cemetery.
- Removed to Fareham Museum or a County Museum for display and
safekeeping.
- Removed to Wickham Churchyard and securely mounted, perhaps near
the Knowle war memorial that was moved three years ago.
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For further information contact wickhamparishcouncil@msn.com
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