Newbury Cemetery Shaw

A cemetery I passed on quite a few occasions but on this one I stopped off because I was researching an old railway that ran past the cemetery and wanted to see how it looked. You could say it was killing two birds with one stone because I could not pass off taking photos round the cemetery as well.

I cannot find much history on the cemetery and can only assume it was made to take over from the one in Newtown road which was full 

The main entrance gates leading to the Chapel

I don't think I have been to a cemetery where the chapel was open, this one was locked as well

There was plenty of room to park round the chapel on both sides

And was well lit by windows














The far end of the cemetery where I wanted to look for the old rail way, the buildings are sat on where the line used to be










The other side where the railway went to Newbury, the boundary would have been where the railway was

 
Looking back along the cemetery road to the Chapel

At the base of the avenue of trees you can see these plaques

There is another plaque like this in Forbury Gardens Reading

All the armed forces are represented along the avenue

HMS Tigris the submarine adopted by Newbury

The RAF has a presence around Newbury

I was taken by this when I came across it, I did not realise Newbury had been bombed in the Second World War but like Reading and other places it was

The memorial is huge and I can only think it is the grave where they were all buired

Newbury like all over cemterys has it's fair share of Commonwealth War Graves

Quite a few of them are in one area








Sargent D Watson 135th Herts Yeomanry Field Rege
5th June 1918 age 27
& H O Dunn HMS President
18th November 1918

Some of the graves and headstones looking up the cemetery

Engineer Commander L R Rickinson Royal Navy 16th April 1941 & Marine A F Lovelock
Royla Marines 21st September 1947 age40

The grave in the forground is that of Private W H C Barber Royal Warwickshire Regt 9th November 1918.

It is an interesting little cemetery to look round if your driving past

Have a peaceful Sunday

Saint John the Baptist Steadhampton

The information I have on the church is shamelessly taken from Wikipedia. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist dates from the 13th century and was rebuilt and enlarged by the Gothic Revival architect E.G. Bruton in 1875. Since the Reformation St. John's has always had the same parish clergy as St. Mary's, Chiselhampton. The Welsh clergyman and writer John Roberts was priest of both parishes 1798–1803.

The tower has a ring of four bells. Henry I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast the treble and second bells in 1621. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the third bell in 1883 and the tenor bell in 1884. For technical reasons the bells are currently unringable.

Now I had passed the church many times to thought I'd stop off quickly for a look. Unfortunately the place was locked so no internal views and since then the church has undergone a reordering so I doubt I will get what I want now if I return.

The view of St Johns as you walk down the church path where the entrance is in the South Aisle

The main entrance to the church which at the time was locked, beside it you can see the village

 War Memorial

The bell tower is a little unususal in that the four corners have what look like urns on then

Looking up towards the top of the tower

The North side of the church with North aisle

Door at the base of the bell tower

 The chancel end on the East side of the church

 

Anther view looking West along the North side

The West end and south aisle, I took this to show a benchmark on the corner. There is one Commonwealth War Grave in churchyar to Private L.A.Cherry Gloucestershire Regiment 22nd June 1940 age 30

The main path to the gate

Couple of headstones by the boundary fence

The main Churchyard out the back of the church roun dthe North Side

These are a few on the East end of the church, the tomb on the right is quite small so must be that of a child

Here we look East past the War Memorial to the older part of the churchyard. That  all I took after being dissapoined in not seeing the inside I just did quick tour round. If I get a chance to revisit I'll post them here.

Have a great weekend

Henley Road Cemetery Reading

Reading Cemetery & Crematorium opened around 1927 and took over from Old Reading Cemetery which by then was starting to run out of room. The Henley road cemetery also has a crematorium which the old one did not. I had been here before to a cremation service but this was the first time I had come to look around, and I was looking for the graves of some of the people who died in the Reading Bombing in 1943

The entrance to Reading Cemetery with the gatehouse over to the left

The Main cemetery road leading to the crematorium and carpark 

As you can see it is tree lined

along which ever road you take

The Crematorium and Chapel 

One of the first places I spotted was the Commonwealth War grave cemetery

With a wall containing the list of fallen from the Second World War who were cremated

The Cross of Victory dominating the cemetery

Some of the graves of the fallen

Corporal C.E. Coston Royal Air Force 24th April 1944 Age 24

One of the Polish War Graves alonside that of a Merchant Navy Seaman

This is another war grave but you need to read the inscription to realise how unlucky the guy was

There are other war graves scattered around the cemetery in Family plots but this is another I find odd but I did read something about a tragedy happening at the place

One place I felt I would be intruding to photograph at the time was the memorial to the baby's who died, I just said a prayer and went on

as you can see the place is huge

 This is a memorial fro Paymaster  Lieutenant Harold James Luddington Appleyard RN of HMS Eagle  who was lost off the cost of Spain in 1957

One grave with an anchor on it and another with a pointing angel

Rather striking cross with winged angel

I never did find the graves I was looking for, I ended upcoming back to find them. It has been a while since I visited this cemetery so I may well return for a future visit.

Have a peacful Sunday