In 1853, parishes and boroughs were able to create and
administer their own cemeteries through the Burial Act. Further to
this, in 1894 district and parish councils were allowed to adopt
the powers of their local burial boards if they so resolved. These
burial boards were set up to supplement, rather than replace, local
churchyards.
The law relating to burial boards and authorities was complex,
with no fewer than fifteen specific Burial Acts being passed by
Parliament between 1852 and 1906, not to mention the many other
acts concerning local government, churches, coroners and so on
which impinged upon burial law. All the relevant acts and statutes
from 1803 to 1939 can be found in A. Fellows The Law of Burial
(London 1940); a practical guide on the administration of burial
grounds, E. Austin's Burial Grounds and Cemeteries (London 1907) is
also worth consulting.
The Peterborough Cemetery Commissioners were created under the
Peterborough Improvement Act 1851, but little was done until 1856.
That year notification was received from the Home Office that
burials would be forbidden in Cowgate Cemetery and elsewhere from
1859. As a result the Commissioners bought land and opened a new
Cemetery (now known as Broadway Cemetery) in 1858, to accommodate
Anglican, Roman Catholic and Non-conformist burials. It was doubled
in size in 1874 and slightly enlarged again in 1895. Soon a second
cemetery was needed and a suitable site was identified outside the
Borough Boundary, but the 1851 Act was inadequate to provide for
this, so new legislation brought the Peterborough Joint Cemetery
Board into being from Nov 1911 (the "joint" area being the Borough
and the civil parish of 'Peterborough Without'). This second new
Cemetery (now Eastfield Cemetery) opened in 1918. With the
enlargement of the Borough in 1929 the Joint Cemetery Board was no
longer necessary, and the management of cemeteries simply became
the responsibility of an ordinary committee of Peterborough City
Council.
Separate Burial Boards were established for each of the
urbanised parishes south of the river: Fletton, Woodston and
Stanground, c1893-c1948, resulting in three new Cemeteries
there.
Records for the following cemeteries: Broadway (opened 1858),
Woodston (opened 1882), Stanground (opened 1890), Fletton (opened
1893) and Eastfield (opened 1919) are held at:
Peterborough Crematorium
Mowbray Road
North Bretton
Peterborough
PE6 7JE
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