Earlham Cemetery, June 2012

We live next to Earlham Cemetery in Norwich, a lovely area of greenery to the west of Norwich’s city centre. The Cemetery dates from 1856 and was created as a result of an order issued by the Home Secretary to the Mayor of Norwich in April 1854 banning burials in Norwich churchyards.

The original Cemetery occupied 34 acres and 23 of these were used immediately, with the remaining land put to agricultural use until it was needed. Many trees were planted when the Cemetery was established and there are some very fine specimens. There are now lots of headstones but originally very few burials were marked by headstones. Soldiers from Britannia Barracks were buried in unmarked graves but eventually a special army burial area was created, with a statue of “The Spirit of the Army”, which was unveiled by Lord Waveney in 1878 (read more).

The Cemetery has been extended since it was opened and the newer pieces of land further out of the city have sparser tree cover and are much more open. Thankfully, areas of longer grass and brambles have been left in places and plants such as Greater and Lesser Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa and C. nigra), Sorrel (Rumex acetosa), Cowslips (Primula veris) and Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) can be found, along with swathes of the Umbellifers Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) in the spring, followed by Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) in the summer.

Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, on bramble flowers

The Cemetery is home to quite a variety of insects, including moths, butterflies such as the Speckled Wood and Orange Tip, bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum, the Tree Bumblebee, is common on bramble flowers at the moment) and hoverflies.

This year a group of local residents have formed Friends of Earlham Cemetery and we walk around the Cemetery on the 14th day of the month, starting at the main entrance on Earlham Road, by the Cemetery Office. (There’s a walk this evening at 6pm.) We have a Facebook page with photo galleries and we post the times of our walks here. I am working on a website for the group as well.

Update December 2012: The group’s website is now Live – see http://www.friendsofearlhamcemetery.co.uk/.