The Stratton Memorial Garden The creation of a burial ground in Princes Risborough

By Maggie Wooster

This is a record of all the work put in over many years by Princes Risborough Town Council to provide a new burial ground, the Stratton Memorial Garden. It describes the long search and the problems encountered trying to find a suitable site.
After a number of abortive attempts, and, having resorted to an elimination survey of every field in the parish, a beautiful site was generously offered to the Council if the problems associated with it could be overcome.
After soil testing was performed, the Environment Agency recommended its suitability for the purpose of burials and outline planning permission was obtained.
To try and ensure that the final plans would be acceptable to the residents of Princes Risborough, the Council’s Burials Committee ensured that everyone had an opportunity to become involved in the design of the facility, with the use of public meetings, questionnaires delivered through the Council’s CROSStalk newsletter, poster displays and consultation meetings.
There was difficulty in obtaining an access to the site due to its designation as an area for future housing development. Developers owned a narrow strip of land called a ransom strip and were not willing to sell it for a reasonable price.
Once this issue was resolved, the Council applied for full planning permission. At this stage further setbacks occurred. Objectors raised some formidable problems, which are described, with details of how the Council was eventually able to overcome them.
Finally this record describes the stages of progress towards the actual development of the facility, and how all the associated issues, such as funding, management and policy, were tackled.
The first 18 chapters detail the problems encountered and lead through to the culmination of the project. The last 6 chapters give supplementary information.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maggie Wooster
• Release date: Nov 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301608959

Book preview

The Stratton Memorial Garden

The creation of a burial ground in

Princes Risborough

Maggie Wooster

Copyright 2012 Maggie Wooster

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Early Years

Chapter 3. Fresh Impetus

Chapter 4. Hopes Renewed [and dashed]

Chapter 5. A Fresh Approach

Chapter 6. Shootacre Lane and the Ragpit

Chapter 7. Continuing Investigations

Chapter 8. Fields of Hope

Chapter 9. The Ransom Strip

Chapter 10. Developing the Design

Chapter 11. Addressing Concerns

Chapter 12. The Alternative Site

Chapter 13. The Pond

Chapter 14. The ‘Wells’

Chapter 15. The Long Wait

Chapter 16. Formalities

Chapter 17. Construction and Earlier Work

Chapter 18. Conclusion

Chapter 19. Funding Investigations

Chapter 20. Financial Planning

Chapter 21. Aspects of Management

Chapter 22. Development of Policy

Chapter 23. A National Problem

Chapter 24. A Personal Perspective

Appendix 1. Summary of Investigated sites in Elimination survey

Appendix 2. Literature concerning 19th Century Plumbing

Appendix 3. Legislation concerning Boreholes

Appendix 4. The Original Regulations

Acknowledgements

References

Prologue

The Stratton Memorial Garden

The creation of a burial ground in

Princes Risborough

This is a record of all the work put in over many years by Princes Risborough Town Council to provide a new burial ground, the Stratton Memorial Garden. It describes the long search and the problems encountered trying to find a suitable site.

After a number of abortive attempts, and, having resorted to an elimination survey of every field in the parish, a beautiful site was generously offered to the Council if the problems associated with it could be overcome.

After soil testing was performed, the Environment Agency recommended its suitability for the purpose of burials and outline planning permission was obtained.

To try and ensure that the final plans would be acceptable to the residents of Princes Risborough, the Council’s Burials Committee ensured that everyone had an opportunity to become involved in the design of the facility, with the use of public meetings, questionnaires delivered through the Council’s CROSStalk newsletter, poster displays and consultation meetings.

There was difficulty in obtaining an access to the site due to its designation as an area for future housing development. Developers owned a narrow strip of land called a ransom strip and were not willing to sell it for a reasonable price.

Once this issue was resolved, the Council applied for full planning permission. At this stage further setbacks occurred. Objectors raised some formidable problems, which are described, with details of how the Council was eventually able to overcome them.

Finally this record describes the stages of progress towards the actual development of the facility, and how all the associated issues, such as funding, management and policy, were tackled.

The first 18 chapters detail the problems encountered and lead through to the culmination of the project. The last 6 chapters give supplementary information.

This record is the author’s perspective of the whole project and is not necessarily the record or the policy of the Council or other councillors. Problems encountered with producing it are mentioned in chapter 24. Many people have been involved with the project over many years, but only those who gave of their time for no remuneration and who have been willing for their name to be included have been mentioned by name.

The cover photograph is of Whiteleaf Cross, taken from the Stratton Memorial Garden and provided by Tim Addison.

Due to various constraints, this electronic version is an abridged version of the original printed version, which contains more script and images.

Chapter 1

Introduction

On the evening of 21st August 1987, two brothers were enjoying an evening out with their friends. The fun came to a sudden end when, driving from one location to another, they had a bad accident which resulted in the death of one of them. Many years later, the tragedy of that night was to provide the motivation and driving force which eventually helped to resolve a problem that had been rumbling on even longer.

This is a record of all the effort that went on behind the scenes on behalf of the residents of Princes Risborough to resolve the problem of finding a much-needed burial ground for the town.

The Local Background

Princes Risborough is a small market town in the Chilterns. Like many other towns in the country, it was gradually outgrowing the facilities that it had taken for granted over the years. The more obvious ones, schools and doctors’ practices etc, had increased to meet the town’s needs but a very important facility, the local parish graveyard, was slowly becoming full and unavailable for future burials.

Before the church was established, there had been burials in other areas of the parish of Princes Risborough and the surrounding locality. Stone Age remains have been found at nearby Whiteleaf, Bronze Age remains near Lodge Hill, and Roman burials have been unearthed near Saunderton. Bones have also been excavated in several places in and around the town.

St Mary’s Parish Church

The present structure of St Mary’s Parish Church in Princes Risborough dates from around 1250 [Kidd 1997 page 2]. It has accepted burials for centuries, usually in the churchyard but a small minority actually within the church itself. St Mary’s has always had the policy of allowing people of all faiths, or none, to be buried in the churchyard whilst there was room available. The original churchyard was much smaller and, in medieval times was constantly reused. As the churchyard lies above a very high water table and no coffins were used, decomposition would have been quite fast and if any bones were found these would have been removed and placed in a crypt [Kidd 1997 page 24].

The practice of placing stone memorials on graves from the 17th century onwards has thwarted the continued reuse of the churchyard. Lord Rothschild donated some land on the west side of the church in 1908 and, in 1934, a generous local benefactor William Walker donated the ‘extension’ to the churchyard, which seemed to be large enough to be sufficient for many years. However this has been filling up fast as the population of the town has increased considerably in recent years.

St Mary’s Parish Church has received small grants to help towards the maintenance of the churchyard from the local Parish Council for many years but most of the labour has been given on a voluntary basis by a small and dedicated number of church members. Without their valuable input the residents of Princes Risborough would not have had a churchyard so well cared for as it is at present.

Once the remaining plots in the churchyard are used, the Parochial Church Council can apply to the Privy Council to make an order in Council to close it and there is currently no legislation that can enable a closure order to be lifted to allow the continuation of parishioners to be buried there.

At this point it should be explained that the Parish Council [referred to later as the Council] refers to the administrative body in a civil parish, and that the Parochial Church Council [PCC] refers to the elected representatives of the congregation of a church, the overwhelming majority also residing in the civil parish. During the course of this record the Parish Council changed its status to Town Council.

Princes Risborough Baptist Church

The local Baptist Church was established in 1707 [Hailey and Knight 2007 page 13], and has been accepting burials since 1727 in their churchyard. For nearly a hundred years, these were placed adjacent to the original Meeting Place on land donated by Thomas Cartwright, and then, from 1822, in the ‘Old’ Burial Ground behind the Lower Hall. A ‘New’ Burial Ground was purchased in 1858 and this was further extended in 1897. A Forty Foot Strip was purchased in 1926 [page 25] for a possible further area for burials but was never used and in 1934 the church purchased Bell Meadow, intending to use it as a burial ground, but planning permission was never granted. The Baptist churchyard is unable to accommodate any new burial plots.

Future Provision

During the last century there has been a movement away from burial towards cremation. Cremation as a practice was hindered in the past by Christian apathy [May 1996 page 27], as there were fewer than 2,000 performed before 1900. Nevertheless May notes that by 1968 over 50% of people who died were cremated and the trend is increasing, but there will always be a need for burials. Many people still prefer burial, whether for religious or personal reasons. Watching the coffin containing the body of someone you love being lowered deep into the ground is an overwhelming experience which is completely different from the production line disappearance of the coffin behind curtains as witnessed in cremation services.

Litten [1991 page 3] notes that few funerals now take place in church and considers aspects of the cremation service to be rather banal, and cremations themselves being ‘clean’ but not ‘green’, as they contribute to the ‘greenhouse’ effect.

Where churchyards have become full, despite a general discontinuation of the practice of recycling grave spaces, the practice of reuse, or using the space between graves [interburials] still continues where the local community have no wish to travel to distant cemeteries [Local Council Review July 2004]. A local village has been using space between old graves for new burials so that the residents did not have to use the cemetery at Aylesbury that was situated 14 miles away.

However, once full, most churchyards, especially in populated areas are being closed. With no available local burial plots, the bereaved, already having to cope with the loss of a loved one, would have the additional upset of finding that their relative could not be buried close by. The alternative burial facility for residents of Princes Risborough is at Hamilton Road in High Wycombe, 9 miles away. This is a large and unfamiliar cemetery and is not conveniently accessible. On top of this, Princes Risborough residents, as parishioners from outside High Wycombe, would be paying double the going rates for using it.

As the law stands, when a churchyard closes the Local Authority is not obliged to provide alternative burial facilities. As the Princes Risborough Draft Community Needs Assessment of January 2004 revealed that locally 25% of the residents would opt for a burial, rather than cremation, the national trend being 30%, it seemed that there should be a moral duty to try and find a replacement facility, even if there wasn’t a legal obligation.

The Parish Council of Princes Risborough, after being chivvied by the local Church, was willing to look for a replacement site to use for a burial ground. However because of all the problems encountered over many years in trying to achieve this objective, councillors occasionally lost heart and periodically tried to pass the responsibility back to the Parochial Church Council or to the local District Council.

It was to take over 20 years of work before the Stratton Memorial Garden and Burial Ground was finally successfully established and inaugurated.

This was due to the town being situated in one of the most difficult locations in the country with regard to available land. Most of the town overlies aquifers and to the east are hilly woodlands, and areas of Green Belt and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is also in an area where property developers have acquired options on much of the surrounding farmland. Added to these were some objectors who seemed to be prepared to go to great lengths to thwart the creation of the burial ground.

Chapter 2

The Early Years

1979 -1991

1979

Evidence from the minutes of St Mary’s Parish Church, Princes Risborough, indicate that as far back as 1979 the Parish Church had begun the process of warning the Parish Council that the churchyard was filling up and that a new burial ground would eventually be needed. They also record their continuing concern about this matter. None of the councillors currently serving on the Council were in position at that time and unfortunately, no letter could be traced.

1983

In October, the Parish Council received a letter from the churchwarden of St Mary’s Parish Church, advising that the churchyard extension was becoming full, and that it was thought prudent to advise the Council of this in order that they could arrange for a new burial ground to be provided for the community under the Council’s control. This letter was read to the members of the Council at their meeting the following month but there are no further references to the subject of the provision of a new burial ground until 1986.

Cllr Leslie [Ben] Benifer was Chairman of the Council. At that time only one evening each month could be allocated for business meetings. From the minutes it can be seen that there were numerous issues being discussed at each meeting, some needing immediate action, and these took precedence, occupying the councillors’ time and thoughts. As there was still plenty of space in the churchyard, there was thought to be plenty of time before a burial site for the town needed considering.

1986

No further references were recorded until nearly 3 years later when during the May meeting of this year, a further letter from the churchwarden was registered indicating that the last quarter of the existing churchyard extension was now in use and likely to be filled within 5 - 7 years. This led to a meeting with church representatives in September and resulted with the Council commencing their long search to find a new burial ground. With 5 - 7 years to find a site, there appeared to be no need for haste. At the November meeting there was a proposal that the Forward Planning Section of Wycombe District Council be asked to undertake a survey to identify a 4 - 5 acre site for a new cemetery. All agreed.

By the end of this year or early in 1987, eight sites were under consideration. These were: -

Site 1. Off Kop Hill on the left from New Road.

Site 2. Off Clifford Road.

Site 3 and 3a. Off Picts Lane on the left from Station Road.

Site 4. Off Horsenden Lane on the left before the cricket ground.

Site 5. Near Park Mill.

Site 6. Longwick Road on the right on leaving the town opposite Oak Tree Farm.

Site 7. Mill Lane – first field on the left on passing under the railway bridge.

Site 8. Mill Lane – first field on the right on passing under the railway bridge.

It doesn’t appear from the minutes or from ex-serving councillors’ memories that any of the owners were approached at this stage.

1987

There is no further mention of the subject until May when a letter was received from the Planning Department of the District Council containing their observations regarding the potential of these sites becoming used for a burial ground. It included a report from the County Council Engineers Department commenting on the accesses to them, advising that some would not be acceptable, whilst others would require road and pathway modifications. Together, with the observations made by the Planning Department, three sites appeared to be suitable in terms of access and topography in particular, but also other considerations [screening etc]. These were sites 1, 3a and 6. It was suggested that Site 1 would seem to be the most obvious choice in that screening was better than at other sites and the land was flat.

Ron Wynands joined the Council that month. Recently he commented that the clerk at that time was unfortunately unwell for many months, which inevitably limited the extent of the records. He said procedures were more informal then and somebody would have a word with somebody rather than letters getting sent. If a letter was sent then anyone might write it. If something needed doing, someone would volunteer to do it, and ‘we didn’t vote on things’. Problems were solved in the most practical and speedy way with less expense placed on the precept.

There is no further reference to the search this year but it seems that as Site 1 was apparently considered to be the most suitable, plans were underfoot to have it placed onto the Local Plan, which was being updated that year. The clerk left the Council and another was taken on in his place.

1988

Barbara Richer, who was well known in the town, and Dave Allworth, also well known as ‘Bookie’ the policeman in his younger days, joined the Council this year. They were later both to become heavily involved with the search for a burial site.

1989

The draft Local Area Plan for consultation had now been published and included the allocation of the Kop Hill site for use as a burial ground. An exhibition was staged at the library early this year. A councillor who had been present for most of the exhibition, advised that, among other comments, the proposed site for a burial ground at Kop Hill [Site 1] had not been well received by the owners, nearby residents or potential visitors due to practical difficulties in reaching it, environmental grounds and doubts about technical suitability, the site overlying chalk rock. It was suggested that the District Council be advised that the Parish Council would prefer to consider alternative sites and that further discussions should be held to identify these.

On receiving this news the District Council queried which alternative site should be included in the Local Plan. The Council had Site 6 in mind in Longwick Road but there would not be time to complete an assessment on it in time for the deadline. They requested that the reference to the site at Kop Hill [Site 1] be deleted.

No further references to this issue are found in the minutes for this year.

1990

Early this year, another clerk took over the clerical duties for the Council as the previous clerk had moved away from the area. It was confirmed with the Planning Department that the exact location of the Longwick Road site was on the NE side of the road opposite Oak Tree Farm. In reply they said that the proposed site could be used for burials as it was now covered by Policy OC3 of the Wycombe Rural Areas Local Plan. This policy, which refers to areas of open countryside beyond the Green Belt, is very restrictive and precludes most types of development. However, use as either a burial ground or for allotments would be acceptable. They added though, that it was not known whether the site’s physical capabilities would be suitable for burial purposes and advised the Council to seek advice from one of their officers regarding this. The Council would also need to investigate the ownership of the site.

There is very little recorded about the activities of the Council in relationship to any progress being made with regard to this site but over the next few months it seems that three sites were being discussed as possible burial sites as in November the clerk wrote to the District Council’s Legal Department requesting help in wording letters to the owners of the possible sites under consideration. They suggested that the clerk contact Stokenchurch Parish Council for advice on this issue, which the clerk duly did before the Christmas break.

1991

The Parish Council minutes of January indicate that a discussion took place as to whether the Council should abdicate its responsibility as a Burial Authority to the District Council. However they were advised that, under such circumstances, the District Council need not provide burial facilities within the parish.

The January minutes of St Mary’s Parochial Church Council [PCC] indicate that the rector and churchwardens had recently attended a meeting with members of the Parish Council to discuss the future provision of a burial ground.

A further meeting between councillors and representatives from both St Mary’s and St Dunstan’s Churches took place in March. It was an attempt to re-state the urgency of the problem and to start again the process of finding a suitable site for a burial ground. There was an expectation from the Council that the Church would undertake to continue their role as Burial Authority, but in the event, it seemed that the ball remained in the court of the Parish Council, and that if a resolution was to be found, it was up to them.

It was estimated that there were now fewer than 15 burial spaces left in St Mary’s churchyard. The possibility of a small parcel of land adjacent to the churchyard being made available for use by the church for burials had been queried and also the possibility of burials taking place in other churchyards, whilst the search for a new burial ground was being made.

At a General Purposes Committee [GPC] meeting at the end of March, councillors received a report of the informal meeting that had taken place with the churches. Those present were told in confidence of the areas selected by the District Council as possible sites for a burial ground and that both rectors had favoured the site in Longwick Road [Site 6]. General Purpose Meetings were held with no press present as if any field was mentioned at the main Parish Council meeting, it would be in the Press the following week before the Council had an opportunity of dealing with all the issues appropriately. After discussion it was proposed that a Burial Ground Sub-Committee [known as the Burials Committee] be set up to gather all available facts.

As the churchyard was almost full, the clerk sent a letter to the National Association of Local Councils [NALC] seeking advice. Their response indicated that once the churchyard was full, the Parochial Church Council might apply for an Order in Council to close the churchyard for future burials. Once the Order was made, the PCC may pass responsibility for maintenance on to the Parish Council, which in its turn may pass that responsibility for maintenance on to the District Council in the manner described in Local Council Administration. Until the Order was made, there was no legal obligation on the Parish Council to contribute towards maintenance, although it was certainly free to do so.

However, if the Parish Council did pass responsibility on to the District Council when the churchyard was formally closed, it was quite likely that they would charge the cost of maintenance exclusively on to the community chargepayers of the parish. If this happened, there would be no saving in financial terms to local people and the Parish Council would not be directly in control of the standard of maintenance in the churchyard.

The response also referred to the provision of a new burial ground, saying that the Parish Council had a power, but no duty, to make such provision; a decision on whether or not to provide new burial facilities being one of policy, rather than law. However it was advised that it was perhaps now appropriate for the Parish Council to provide burial facilities, rather than the Church of England, because the Council represented all parishioners, and not simply those who were members of the Church.

The first formal meeting of the Burials Committee occurred at the beginning of April with Cllr Ron Wynands elected as chairman. Their remit was to consult with others and gather all relevant and available information about providing a burial ground and to report all their findings to the Council, which would then debate the matter.

Cllr Ron Wynands

1st chairman of the Burials Committee

Over the next week or so information was sought from appropriate departments of the District Council, and from a number of local Councils known to have experiences which might help, such as: Hughenden Parish Council, who were managing their own burial ground at Four Ashes, Chesham Bois seeking knowledge of the costs, and advantages and disadvantages of having a burial ground, and Long Crendon Parish Council for information and their experiences of the problems they encountered purchasing land.

At the end of the month, the committee met again. A meeting had taken place with officers from the Forward Planning Department at the District Council, who had wished it to be confirmed fairly soon whether Site 6 was the preferred site and did the Council wish it to be included in the Local Plan, which was due to be published for public consultation in September 1991. With regard to this Local Plan, if the preferred site was included, public responses would be known by January 1992 and then planning permission could be determined in 8 weeks as this was the usual way forward. If the site was not published in the Local Plan, a planning application could be submitted immediately. It had been confirmed that Site 6 was acceptable from Planning and Highways considerations although other sources queried a satisfactory water table level.

The Burials Committee discussed the conversation that had taken place at this meeting and agreed to make a strong recommendation to the Council that the District Council should not include details of any potential burial site in the Local Plan, as this would cause delays in establishing a facility. As the latest target time for a new burial ground to be operational was October 1993, the above procedure was too drawn out in time, and the best way forward would be to apply for outline planning permission very soon, which would be determined hopefully in 8 weeks. It was decided that Cllr Dave Allworth would have an informal chat with the owner of Site 6.

The clerk had ascertained that burial grounds usually run at a net loss involving a ‘special charge’ on the parish and that Parish Councils had no powers to make a special charge on other parishes although a District Council did. He was detailed to write to the adjoining parishes to see if they would require a burial site in the near future, with the hope that perhaps they would join in as partners, which would enable the potential cost to be shared. However the committee agreed that the Council should first urgently resolve whether it wished to pass the responsibility of being the Burial Authority to the District Council, as this was the decision around which all other decisions revolved. [This issue had seemingly been resolved in January but had been revisited]. They also agreed the site needed to be in the Princes Risborough area.

A GPC was called to discuss the Burials Committee chairman’s resolution that the Council should pass the responsibility for provision of a burial ground to the District Council, providing that the District Council agreed that the site would be in the Princes Risborough area. The chairman of the Burials Committee, Cllr Ron Wynands, then proposed his resolution to the Parish Council, detailing his reasons why he did not think the Council should become the Burial Authority, which were as follows: -

A councillor or committee would need to carry out all negotiations for the acquisition and planning requirements of land for this purpose. Extra administration would be required to run the facility. Maintenance would be costly on a continuing basis. A loan would be needed to purchase, fence and prepare a site. A loss would be incurred on running a burial ground, the District Council at present having a loss of 80% of the fees generated, and the Parish Council could not levy a charge on any nearby parishes using a Princes Risborough cemetery.

Councillors acknowledged that it was uneconomic to run a burial ground but felt that it was preferable to have a burial ground within the parish. It had been confirmed that the local church did not want to take on more land for this purpose, and once the existing churchyard was full would be passing the cost of maintenance to the Council. It was pointed out that much of the negotiation for any site would be handled by professionals such as the local valuer and solicitor acting for the Council with the administration being handled by the clerk or another person employed specifically for this role. However it was then