Armed with the research I’d already undertaken, I set off on my bike to see what I could see at the Pine Road Cemetery.
The vehicle entrance is a little way down Pine Road from the Hursley Road junction. It doesn’t look like many vehicles go in there. There is also a pedestrian entrance further down Pine Road.
The entrance leads to a tree-lined path that curves through the middle of the cemetery.
My immediate impression was how tranquil it was. I may have been less than 100 yards from the nearest house, but I could have been in the middle of nowhere. There was nobody else around (apart from the several hundred below my feet, that is).
I was chatting to a funeral director recently and he mentioned that people generally don’t like to live next to a graveyard. I was surprised as they are lovely places to wander through. And you couldn’t ask for quieter neighbours! In fact, my only gripe to Eastleigh Borough Council about this cemetery is that there is nowhere to sit. Sometimes I like to sit and think, and sometimes I like to just sit. This is perfect spot just to sit.
Wild flowers abound, such as these, which I’m hoping someone can identify for me. Apologies that I didn’t notice that the camera focused on the leaf rather than on the flower in one of the photos. Every picture tells a story, and in this case the story is that the photographer couldn’t use a camera.
Some of the trees had reddish bark that was highlighted in the sunlight. Again, I’m sure someone can identify the species. This particular tree also served as a useful prop for my bicycle.
Many of the gravestones were weathered and covered in lichen and moss, which made the inscriptions difficult to read.
But a few were remarkably clear, despite their age and proximity to the trees and foliage.
I’m not sure what MMS means on the first of these stones. Interestingly, the amount of space suggests that these were intended as a double plot, with space left on the gravestone for the inscription of the subsequent departed. I wonder why this was never completed.
There is no military section in the cemetery (as there is, for example, in the Brookwood Avenue cemetery in Eastleigh), but a few military graves are dotted about.
A few memorials were still intact:
But many were broken – perhaps deliberately lowered to the ground for safety reasons.
There is no longer any indication of where the of the denominationally-separated areas are, though this monument is probably in the Roman Catholic section.
Here’s a curiosity. The deceased apparently lived in Woburn, Bedfordshire. So why did she end up in a cemetery in Chandlers Ford?
And finally, this inscription is different to the usual “fell asleep” euphemism. I wonder what the accident was.
Thank you Chippy for undertaking this wonderful and informative investigation. I believe it was my correspondence that gave rise to this 2 part series when I saw the cemetery when driving Pine Road recently. I’ve since driven by again and seen where there is a walk in gate but am unsure if a mobility scooter could access it by this entrance. I wonder Chippy, was the drive in gate locked up?
The pathway you photographed does looks like (if one were able to enter on a scooter), that it would be suitable to traverse easily.
I live in Simpkins Court which I believe was once a local garage (called Simpkins) and cannot see the cemetery from there as there are well established trees presumably planted as screening. They obviously work as you said you felt it a tranquil setting despite the nearness of homes to it. A bench would indeed be useful… perhaps not enough visitors to warrant the council to spend?
Thank you for the additional comments others have added too as these have all helped me to learn more about Chandlers Ford and in particular the little bit right where I am.
The drive gate was not locked and opened easily. I think it would open enough to allow a mobility scooter access.
Perhaps we could all meet up and go for a walk together one weekend? How about that, Deeyon66?
Now we can give Chippy other homework to do.
Why on earth not? That would be awesome. Back to mine then for coffee after?
I’ll speak to Chippy and email you soon. 🙂
Interesting about the grave yard…..there are a few Polish graves right at the ‘back’ and I took 4 photos of them in December 2007 as the graves were in a terrible state then and I wanted to retain the names on the graves before they were lost (some had wooden signs instead of stone). I believe they were related to the ‘Polish Resettlement Camp’ that was at the site of ‘Hiltingbury Rec’ after WW2, after the site had been abandoned by the US Army after D-Day; there is an excellent book about the camp ‘The Story of the Polish Dependents’ Hostel, Hiltingbury 1946-57′ by Marian Sobieraj [ISBN 83-60140-70-7] (lots of copies in C/Ford Library!).
I did write to Eastleigh Borough Council when they gave planning permission for the new houses to be built nearby, with a request to name some of the new roads nearby with Polish names in memory of the Polish community there; unfortunately they had already had plans for the names of the roads….probably easier to pronounce!
Hi Chippy loved your posts on Pine Road Cemetery. My paternal grandparents were buried there in 1941 and 1945 in plots H3 and H4 no headstones due to poverty. As a child I lived in Cuckoo Bushes Lane. When I was about 12 I began to visit the cemetery where I made friends with the Eastleigh Borough Council workman who tended the site and had a little wooden hut just inside the gate, who would often give me a drink of his tea from a flask. Just imagine doing that today!! One day he had a bundle of aluminium marker tags and a map and said we had to put the markers on the graves – some of these can still be seen today. I suppose I stayed about an hour each visit, didn’t have a watch of course. Fascinated by the Polish graves as some had photos.
I did see some tags on the graves – probably the same ones.
I have my parents ashes inturned in my grandmothers grave, she died of consumption in what was Leigh House in the 1930s.
I was flicking through Barbara Hiliers book, History of Chandlers Ford, in a waiting room this morning. Apparently, there was never a graveyard attached to St Boniface Church (opened in 1907) and the Pine Road Cemetery was consecrated in 1910. It wasn’t clear whether the cemetery was originally the church graveyard, or whether it was always owned by the parish.
Also, where were people buried between 1907 and 1910?
Hi Chippy … I found this entry on the Chandler’s Ford Parish Council Site, relating to Pine Road Cemetery … and, as can be seen, the first burial was in 1906 …
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From Parish Council Site:
Pine Road Cemetery
The cemetery is situated in Pine Road (the section where the cemetery is, was originally Cuckoo Bushes Lane), Chandler’s Ford and was opened in the early 1900’s with the first burial taking place in October 1906. This cemetery was originally administered by the Chandler’s Ford Parish Council until the early 1930’s when it passed to Eastleigh Borough Council. The total area of the cemetery is 1/2 of a hectare containing areas for Church of England, Roman Catholic and
Non-Conformist interments.
The cemetery is now full and is only available for second interments in pre-purchased graves.
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From DC
I had always thought that burials for the village folk of Chandler’s Ford before 1906 were at Eastleigh Cemetery, but, according to the EBC Cemeteries Site, it turns out the 1st burial there was in 1901 …
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From EBC Site:
Eastleigh Cemetery was opened in 1898 with the first burial taking place in the August of 1901.
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From DC
O.K. I thought, before then it must have been South Stoneham, but NO !
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From the Web:
South Stoneham Cemetery:
Located in the Swaythling district of Southampton and operated by the Southampton City Council, the first burial took place on 4 Feb 1905. A crematorium was opened on this site in 1932 but by the 1960s was becoming inadequate and obsolete. As a result, Southampton City Council opened a new crematorium on Bassett Green Road in October 1973.
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From DC
That still leaves us with an unanswered question – Just where were people of the whole Eastleigh area buried before 1901 …
Happy days !
The people of the whole Eastleigh area were not buried before 1901 – it would have been illegal as they were still alive! 🙂
Until Eastleigh was big enough to warrant its own parish, I believe that much of it was covered by North Stoneham, so the dead may have been buried there. Other parts were covered by South Stoneham (which was a larger parish than North Stoneham), and other neighbouring parishes (maybe Otterbourne).
Again, before St Boniface, Chandlers Ford was possibly divided across parishes of Otterbourne, Ampfield and Hursley.
The Church of the Resurrection (the original parish church) had a burial ground; I’m not sure about All Saints.
Hello there. My father, brother, mother are all buried in the cemetery. They are part of the ‘Polish section’ down on the bottom right. We lived in the Polish camp next door when I was a kid. I remember the trees, and not much else. My mother worked as a cleaner in the area, and would cycle round the houses for her work, with me on the back!
Every year, my wife and I visit Pine Road Cemetery to clean my family grave and to say hello. It’s a lovely cemetery, and as you say, very peaceful. For a long time, the Polish graves nearby were neglected and falling apart. But more recently, someone has put up crossed and made an effort to clean them up. They must be relatives who found their relations. Memories of the Polish past at Chandler’s Ford carry on.
I took 4 photos of some of the graves in that cemetery back in 2007, as some were in quite a state of disrepair – I wasn’t sure that the name plates on the graves would last much longer! One was simply a wooden cross with no name, one was for Adam Pawlowski and the other for a Dr. Maurycy Blind. For some years, I have been researching the ‘8th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla’ and Polish Motor Gun Boats, that were based in Ramsgate and Felixstowe in WW2 and believe that a crew member (Jan Czarnota) of one of the Motor Gun Boats (‘S-2’), who had been Motor Mechanic and also served initially in the Polish Air Force, lived at the Polish Camp after WW2. Any information would be gratefully received.
Although some damage may have originated from the 1987 storm the majority was caused by a spate of mindless vandalism in the early 1990’s. The evidence of this is still obvious with many broken headstones and crosses lying strewn around on the grass as shown in one of the photos.
However the site is kept very tidy.
I visited recently after 30 years to check on the condition of my maternal grandparents grave (Bunce) and clean their inscriptions. Originally I had sunk their broken off cross level with the grass and I exposed it again after clearing the debris created from the tree above.
One of the Military photos you have taken is of my uncles in front of him is the Ashes of my great grand parents and then and auntie and uncle, plus another auntie and uncle then this year my nan and grandad where added so nan now lays with her brother and parents and other family members,
Where are the burial records kept for this graveyard? My maternal grandmother died in Chandlers Ford on 6th January 1932 of Pleurisy, name Violet Mabel Annie Cook.nee Savory. I wondered if she might be buried here.
Probably Eastleigh Borough Council. I think they have a facility to search the records on their website.
Thank you.