St James Old Burial Ground
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St James Old Burial Ground

Also known as St. James Original Burial Ground

Bath, Bath and North East Somerset Unitary Authority, Somerset, England

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Situated near the lost parish church of St. James, one of Bath's medieval parishes, this small cemetery is now a public park. Bath Burial Index estimates that 9,905 individuals were interred here between 1718 and 1855. Burial registers survive from the late 16th Century onwards, with gaps.



No memorials survive in the former cemetery and there is no way to locate/photograph an individual burial plot. All burials are believed to remain intact beneath the multiple stages of park landscaping.



Burials also took place in the crypt of St. James Church, which was gutted by bombing during World War Two and later demolished to make way for retail space. Remains and lead coffins recovered from the crypt were relocated to Bath Abbey Cemetery, Perrymead and reburied in "a plot of ground at the lower (or extreme north) corner".



The parish's paupers were separately interred at the Abbey & St James Graveyard for the Poor, Lyncombe Hill, between 1784 and 1857. Burials moved to the parish's final burial ground off the Lower Bristol Road in 1861. This is known as Lyncombe & Widcombe & St. James's Cemetery in records, but simply "St James Cemetery" on street signage. In the gap before the new cemetery was ready, parish burials were scattered among nearby parishes.



A handful of stones from St. James' old burial ground were relocated to "paths surrounding the new church of St. Philip and St. James" at Odd Down. These were pictured in a Bath Chronicle article on the completion one phase of the park landscaping.



Due to the size of the site, only a tiny percentage of the near 10,000 burials were ever marked by gravestones. Wealthier individuals may have opted to have a memorial erected in the nearby church. A surviving document, "Tablet inscriptions inside of Bath St James church", can be consulted at Somerset Record Office.









Situated near the lost parish church of St. James, one of Bath's medieval parishes, this small cemetery is now a public park. Bath Burial Index estimates that 9,905 individuals were interred here between 1718 and 1855. Burial registers survive from the late 16th Century onwards, with gaps.



No memorials survive in the former cemetery and there is no way to locate/photograph an individual burial plot. All burials are believed to remain intact beneath the multiple stages of park landscaping.



Burials also took place in the crypt of St. James Church, which was gutted by bombing during World War Two and later demolished to make way for retail space. Remains and lead coffins recovered from the crypt were relocated to Bath Abbey Cemetery, Perrymead and reburied in "a plot of ground at the lower (or extreme north) corner".



The parish's paupers were separately interred at the Abbey & St James Graveyard for the Poor, Lyncombe Hill, between 1784 and 1857. Burials moved to the parish's final burial ground off the Lower Bristol Road in 1861. This is known as Lyncombe & Widcombe & St. James's Cemetery in records, but simply "St James Cemetery" on street signage. In the gap before the new cemetery was ready, parish burials were scattered among nearby parishes.



A handful of stones from St. James' old burial ground were relocated to "paths surrounding the new church of St. Philip and St. James" at Odd Down. These were pictured in a Bath Chronicle article on the completion one phase of the park landscaping.



Due to the size of the site, only a tiny percentage of the near 10,000 burials were ever marked by gravestones. Wealthier individuals may have opted to have a memorial erected in the nearby church. A surviving document, "Tablet inscriptions inside of Bath St James church", can be consulted at Somerset Record Office.









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  • Added: 7 Apr 2017
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2639185