CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CEMETERY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XX, Issue 1113, 11 July 1863, Page 10

CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CEMETERY.

On Tuesday, the 23rd of June, the L>: 1 Biv • ; Christchurch performed the ceremonv of eo:. ing the enclosed portion of the Church of K:. Cemetery, together with a small Chape! been recently erected on it. The day - ■ and threatening, and this, along with the ■ state of the roads after the late heavy rains. prevented a large number of persons from at:,;. . The enclosure comprises upwards of r.vo ac.vs ; ground, and is well situated on a high r: L"r o looking the Avon, just outside the eastern Kfji:;--.--;; of Christchurch. One-half is empty of grave-?, r.i.;;; been quite recently laid out and sown with the other half is already thickly studded with stones, beside which droop tall willows. v.-ee:/r.; over the mortal remains of the relatives and fri-s:-of some of our earliest settlers. Many of the griv r ; are carefully kept and strewn with fresh-satherr': flowers, the tribute of loving hearts to the n;trr::rj I of their dead. I At 12 o'clock, the Bishop, attended by the A:':.- [ deacon of Akaroa, the Kev. H. Jacobs, curat: : I. Christchurch, and four other clergymen, met I parishioners of Christchurch at the entrance I Chapel, where a petition was read in their nair.e ;• ft the curate, praying his Lordship to proceed ft:.: ft consecration. A procession was then formed <:1 clergy and parishioners, two and two. headed I; Bishop, and in this order all walked roun; Cemetery enclosure, repeating alternately wit':; :h; Bishop, the verses of the XVI., XC., and other priate Psalms. Returning to the Chapel, the party entered the building, and after the *.i-rt :: consecration had been duly read aud sigur prayers of consecration were offered, and a address made by the Bishop, in the course of he referred to the sanctity which has ever attscie. to burial places in all ages and countries, as fa: I 1 as the times of the Patriarchs, and impressed -• earnest language the solemn lesson conveyed tsurrounding tokens of mortality. After t.".e Hundredth had been sung, more heartily an: than we have heard it for years, the Holy was administered to about twenty-five persons. Rev. H. Jacobs officiating on the south sid'.- ,'f '1 altar. The collection at the offertory, to the lining of the building, was betwfe;. -ix vrseven pounds. ' k The Chapel is a small but neat structure. — of accommodating thirty or forty persoi\<. ;.ml miuated at the east-end by an apsidai st.-ictuary. with three lancet windows running up into ilu> -tiers hi the roof. There are two similar windows in eM r side-wall of the Chapel, and at the west-ami is s" , j ample porch, communicating with the building by large folding doors. The entrance and apsis paved with handsome encaustic tiles, brought v." twelve years ago in one of the first ships from 1 inland. It is hoped, that before the end of the y<yt. all the windows Mill be filled with painted gh l --- orders having, we understand, already been sent w England for execution by one of the best makers. The windows will all be memorials to friends, put up at the expense of the survivors. I' h - e Chapel has yet to be lined, and contributions i't this purpose will no doubt be gladly received by the churchwardens.