Cemetery development plans changed to save headstones

Press, 4 September 1987, Page 27

Cemetery development plans changed to save headstones

The open space included in the Christchurch City Council’s development plan for the Barbadoes Street Cemetery may be made smaller than originally planned so that fewer headstones would have to be removed. The chairman of the Barbadoes Street Cemetery Preservation Committee, Mr Ray Harrison, said that when members of the committee, council officers, and some Avon Loop residents met at the cemetery recently council officers were “very receptive” to the idea of a smaller open space. The council’s plan, which was put forward in February, featured ah open central area with grass and a small,

sheltered seating area. Organisations represented on the Preservation Committee objected that the plan would require the relocation of about 56 headstones. Mr Harrison said that the open area now planned was in the middle of the eastern section of the cemetery, where there were few headstones.

“With the horizontal placement of one monument and the removal of uninscribed rubble, an acceptable compromise could be reached,” he said.

The council’s plan also provides for several gravel paths, which will eventually be lit, providing access to adjoining streets.

While some of the Preservation Committee member groups were unhappy about the idea of formal paths being established over graves, Mr Harrison said it had been agreed that the planners should survey and mark out the paths making maximum use of the original access ways. When this was done, it should be possible to find out which graves had been crossed so that descendants who wished to object might do so. “Although the committee favours the concept of a Biblical garden and strategic planting of further trees and shrubs, it is most concerned to ensure that wilderness areas are not established, areas that create a cover for vandal-

ism,” Mr Harrison said. The Preservation Committee recognised the special significance of the Maori graves which called for the sensitivities of the Maori people towards burial grounds to be recognised. The. committee had a policy of opposing structures of any kind, including paths, over such graves.

The plans for the cemetery developments are well established, and it should not be long before work begins. A working bee concentrating on tombstone restoration has been organised by the Preservation Committee for Saturday.

Headstones marked for attention include the families of Archdeacon Wm. Chambers Harris,

Dugald Macfarlane, Andrew Shaw, Gep. Jury, Andrew Duncan, Thos Longley, Enoch Goddall, Thos Smith, Hy Nelson, Thos McKay, John Edmonds, Wates, Wyatt, Ephraim Coffee, Jape Kuhlman, Louisa Hancock, Joseph Hurrell, and the grave of the Countess Lilly de la Pasteur. . Some tidying up will be done as well, and members of the public are welcome. On the afternoon of Sunday, November 1, people will have the chance to view some of the restoration work done at the cemetery, during a guided walkabout People who believe that they have forbears buried in the cemetery will also have an opportunity to find the graves.