34 C O N T E X T 1 4 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 track towards the Grade II, gothic-revival, knapped flint Rosary Cemetery Chapel, which marked the entrance to the cemetery. The chapel, designed by local architect Edward Boardman, was built in 1881. Here we met NickWilliams of Norwich Heart Charity (Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust), who gave an insight into to the upkeep and history of the Grade II* cemetery. The Rosary Cemetery, considered the earliest nondenominational cemetery of its type in England, was established in 1819 by retired Norwich-born Unitarian clergyman Thomas Drummond (1765–1852). Using his wife’s inheritance, Drummond purchased part of a market garden east of the city walls. He aimed to establish an unconsecrated cemetery where anyone could be buried, with or without any kind of service, provided a fee was paid. Drummond also aimed to ease pressure on overcrowding churchyards within the city’s walls, which relied on raising ground to accommodate burials. In the case of St John the Baptist at Timberhill, the graves had become so shallow that by the 1850s it is said that bones were visible at a slight disturbance of the grass. The sloping land off Rosary Road provided a setting with views towards the city. The first burial took place in 1821 when Drummond’s wife, Anne, was re-interred from the Octagon Chapel in the city. Drummond’s vision for the cemetery was soon realised. Today the result comprises a romantic crowded garden of terraced graves, sheltered by mature, symbolic trees, such as the yew tree at Anne’s grave, which represents sorrow and mourning. In a fascinating guide to notable characters, such as the Colmans, of Colman’s Mustard, and Edward Boardman, and their symbolic headstones, Williams offered an insight into the management of the grounds, maintenance and interpretation challenges. Since 1954 the cemetery has been managed by Norwich City Council and maintained by Friends of the Rosary Cemetery. The council is responsible for keeping paths clear and cutting back the everencroaching plants. The Friends of Rosary undertakes detailed clearances, monitoring, recording and interpretations. In recent years the council and trust have worked together to provide a series of interpretive leaflets and plaques to provide further historic context and understanding to the site. The trust continues to look for other ways to present the site and is hoping to conduct further research into how plots were chosen and whether there was a hierarchy to the views (since lost) from graves across the city. It continues to be challenged by the damage to gravestones caused by roots and rising land, which leads to debate on the extent to which the setting of the graves should be altered in order to preserve them. Holly Sharpley Modernism at the University of East Anglia Our group of 20th-century architecture enthusiasts headed west out of Norwich to the edge of the University of East Anglia (UEA) site. Our visit coincided with an undergraduate open day, so the campus was awash with prospective students and their parents, adding to the collegiate atmosphere.We stopped first to look at the new Enterprise Centre, designed by Architype (the UK’s leading passivhaus architects) to provide ‘incubation and hatchery spaces’ for new graduate start-up companies. Timber framed, with lime render and clad in thatch, it has a BREEAM outstanding rating and has been described as the country’s greenest building. Our next stop was Earlham Hall, a Grade II* 17th-century house which was extended in the 18th century and remodelled in the early 1900s by Edward Boardman. The house was the residence of the NickWilliams with delegates at the Rosary Cemetery and (below) a detail of iron railings around one of the plots (Both photos: Liz Blood)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=