The Congregationalist Cemetery (also known as the "Independent Burial Ground" or the "Dissenters Burying Ground") at Ponsharden, Cornwall was opened in 1808 to serve the Dissenting Christian congregations of Falmouth and Penryn. It received approximately 587 burials over a period of 120 years, before being abandoned in the 1930s.Cornwall Record Office – Falmouth and Penryn Independent Church Burial Records X850/1, X850/2, X850/3, X850/25, X850/26 During the 20th century the site experienced significant neglect and extensive vandalism. In May 2012 a volunteer group began to restore the burial ground which (combined with an adjacent Jewish cemetery) is now a protected Scheduled Monument of national importance.Falmouth Jewish and Congregationalist Cemeteries, Cornwall. Archaeological Assessment. Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects. 2010. C. Parkes; page 13 The place-name Ponsharden is recorded in 1677 as "Ponshardy"; its meaning is Hardy's bridge.Weatherhill, Craig (2009). A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype. ; p. 57
Location and setting
The Congregationalist cemetery is located at Ponsharden, between the towns of Falmouth and Penryn on the south coast of Cornwall. The cemetery sits at the lower end of a small spur of land which runs down to the Penryn River (a branch of the Fal estuary). The site is bounded on the north by the A39 Falmouth Road, to the east by light industrial units, to the south by open ground and to the west by a cleared industrial site.
Site layout and features
The cemetery is roughly L-shaped in plan and occupies an area of approximately 0.22 acres (913m²). The cemetery's northern end comprises a steep scarp overlooking the A39 Falmouth Road. Into this embankment is set the site's original entrance, formed from an arched gateway with cut granite steps. At the top of these steps are the remains of a badly vandalised mortuary building. The site's eastern boundary comprises a damaged but well-constructed rubble wall with chamfered granite copings. The southern and western boundaries are formed from hedge banks. Within the cemetery are the remains of 91 monuments of considerable diversity and several unmarked burial mounds. From the top of the entrance steps, a path (with traces of edging in-situ) extends through the centre of the burial ground, terminating at the southern boundary. A number of mature, self-sown sycamore trees are scattered across the site and a single yew tree stands at the cemetery's southern end, its traditional association with sorrow and death indicating it is a deliberate ornamental feature.Falmouth Jewish and Congregationalist Cemeteries, Cornwall. Archaeological Assessment. Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects. 2010. C. Parkes. Page 27-29
History
Opening of cemetery
From the late 17th century Falmouth (and to a lesser extent Penryn) supported a significant number of nonconformist religious groups, including Congregationalists (also known as Independents), Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Quakers. A significant Jewish population could also be found in the town.A Falmouth Guide, 1815. p.43-48 / A Panorama of Falmouth, 1827 p.43-50 / History and Description of the Town of Falmouth 1827 p.85 Dissenting Christian congregations often had their own place of worship, but unless they owned a private burial ground they were usually buried in the local parish churchyard (often in unconsecrated ground).
The Dissenters of Falmouth and Penryn acquired their first (and only) dedicated burial ground in early 1808, when they were given a plot of land at Ponsharden ‘through the kindness and liberality of Mr Samuel Tregelles, a reputable Merchant in Falmouth’.Cornwall Record Office – X850/1 Independent Church Burial Records The new burial ground stood adjacent to an older Jewish cemetery ‘in the corner of the lower field, adjoining the Turnpike Road’. It was given to the Dissenters free of cost ‘on the simple condition of the ground being enclosed by a good stone wall, to encompass the Jew’s Burial Ground’.
Active years Falmouth and Penryn's Dissenters began using the new cemetery almost immediately after enclosing it in the summer of 1808. The first of Penryn's congregation to be buried was Abia, the daughter of John and Dolly Nicholls of Gwennap. Abia died on 18 August 1808 and was buried ‘amid a vast concourse which had filled the Ground from the novelty of a Burial amongst Dissenters’ (over 700 people attended the funeral).Cornwall Record Office - X850/1. p16. / X850/24 Falmouth's first burial was that of Mrs Christiana Daubuz ‘a Lady of eminent piety & one of the chief supporters of the Independent Chapel’ who in November 1808 was interred ‘amid a very large concourse of persons'.Cornwall Record Office: X850/1 ‘Commencement of Burials at Ponsharden Cemetery in 1808’ The cemetery's burial registers have mostly survived, although the entries are incomplete between the years 1880–1893 and 1906–1935. The volumes offer valuable information on the intensity of use that the cemetery experienced, as follows: Period Burials 1808–1819 55 1820–1829 66 1830–1839 68 1840–1849 93 1850–1859 79 1860–1869 81 1870–1879 68 1880–1889 10 1890–1899 11 1900–1905 12
This gives a total of 543 recorded burials. However, there are an additional 22 headstones at the cemetery representing names that do not appear in the official registers.See Monuments No.1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 18, 23, 28, 32, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 53, 54, 55, 57 and 89 (as per official site survey plan 2012 Nunn & Weller) These unlisted burials, combined with the above registers, give a total figure of circa 587 interments on site, of which approximately 382 lie in unmarked graves.Surviving headstones only represent 205 of the listed burials. Burial figures extracted from Cornwall Record Office – Falmouth and Penryn Independent Church Burial Records X850/1, X850/2, X850/3, X850/25, X850/26
Decline and neglect
There are no existing records to indicate that the Congregationalist cemetery was ever officially closed, and the circumstances surrounding its decline and abandonment are presently unclear. The last entry in the burial registers is dated November 1905Cornwall Record Office: X850/3 - No.5 Jemima Eliza Trenery, Died Nov 1905, Aged 79 (buried in family vault) but existing headstones show that several interments took place after this, including that of Elizabeth Tully Cook in 1912 and four members of the Newcombe family of Penryn in the 1920s and 1930s. The latest known burial on site is that of Mary Elizabeth Newcombe, in April 1935.From inscription visible on site - Congregationalist Cemetery, Cornwall These late interments involved re-opening established family plots, and it appears no new ground was used during the cemetery's latter days.
The large number of burials that took place at Ponsharden might have been a factor in its closure. The cemetery is only 0.22 acres in size (913m²) and the 587 burials would have stretched its limited capacity. Additionally, in 1854 a new municipal cemetery was opened near Swanpool, Falmouth, complete with a chapel and burial area specifically set aside for Dissenters. The attraction of this spacious new site must also be considered when contemplating the Congregationalist cemetery's decline, although the Ponsharden burial registers do not start to show reduced figures until 20 years after the cemetery at Swanpool was opened.
Once disused, the site was left unattended for a period of almost 80 years. Gradually the cemetery was engulfed by self-sown trees, which caused extensive damage as they grew between (and through) the monuments. Dense brambles, ivy and scrub spread across the burial ground, obscuring a large number of low-lying monuments from view. The overgrown nature of the site meant it was difficult to monitor any activity taking place there, and during the 20th century it experienced extensive vandalism (at least 33 monuments were seriously damaged), which included the smashing of headstones, the deliberate destruction of family vaults, the robbing of slate and granite from monuments and the excavation of at least two graves."Cemetery Desecrated" The West Briton Newspaper. 20 August 1998
Recent activity
In 2002 English Heritage recognised the national importance of the Congregationalist cemetery and an older Jewish burial ground which adjoins it, and both sites were designated a single Scheduled Monument (English Heritage Ref No.15581).Falmouth Jewish and Congregationalist Cemeteries, Cornwall. Archaeological Assessment. Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects. 2010. C. Parkes. Page 32 A Cornwall Council Archaeological Report of 2010 summarised the importance of the cemeteries, stating that "their time spans, rare features, group value, siting, varied evidence of past religious, social and economic life, complexity and natural diversity combine to make them highly significant". However, the report also noted that 'the condition of the Congregationalist's site is very poor and deteriorating, and indeed can be described as deplorable. The cemetery has many interrelated active and potential risks, affecting highly sensitive and unrecorded graves and associated features'.Falmouth Jewish and Congregationalist Cemeteries, Cornwall. Archaeological Assessment. Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects. 2010. C.Parkes. Page 16.
In May 2012 Falmouth Town Council and English Heritage granted permission for a volunteer group to clear the scrub from the cemetery and undertake a survey of all the surviving monuments (see Site Survey, below).English Heritage Scheduled Monument Consent No. S00045765 In parallel with the survey, the volunteers also reseeded the site with grass, and efforts were made to re-establish the few examples of native flora (such as the Early Purple Orchid) that had survived amongst the dense brambles and ivy.
In 2013 the volunteers were granted custodianship of the graveyard. Presently, their responsibilities include stabilising its decline, regular tidying and gardening and raising local and national awareness of the cemetery's existence. The volunteers' long-term objectives include raising funds to repair the damaged monuments, entrance-way and boundary walls, as well as officially opening the cemetery as a historic landmark.
Site survey (2012–2013) Until 2012, minimal information existed about the site in terms of burial figures, the quantity of surviving headstones, the families they represent and an understanding of the congregations that utilised the cemetery. Cornwall Council's archaeological report of 2010 highlighted that many of the monuments were deteriorating so rapidly there was a risk the inscriptions would be irretrievably lost before any record of them had been made.Falmouth Jewish Congregationalist cemeteries, Cornwall - Archaeological Assessment. Report No.2010R039. C. Parkes 2010. p.11-13 Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects However, decades of neglect meant that survey work would be hampered by the invasive vegetation that blanketed the site. It was noted that if an accurate study was to be made, the cemetery would first require methodical clearance by hand to expose the numerous fallen, low-lying or obscured headstones and tombs.
In May 2012 residents of Falmouth formed a volunteer group and approached Falmouth Town Council and English Heritage with the proposal to tidy the site and undertake the urgently required survey. As the cemetery is protected, the works required Scheduled Monument Consent from the Secretary of State.Consent No. S00045765 Permission was granted, and between May 2012 and August 2013 the site was completely cleared and a record made of the quantity, style, dimensions and condition of every existing monument, complete with a full transcription of all surviving monumental inscriptions.The Dissenters' Burying Ground Ponsharden - Monument Survey. Robert Nunn & Tom Weller. 2014