Abingdon Cemetery

Abingdon Cemetery is one I have been looking to visit for a while though it was never top of my list till I found out that I needed to visit to find some war graves .  I was also surprised to find two cemetery's, an old one and new. The old cemetery is Victorian being built in the 1850's with the chapels opening in 1860. The first one I visited was the old cemetery 

One of the Gothic style chapels which I parked near

Looking back towards the second and the lodge house

This is looking towards the far end of the cemetery

There are quite a number of Commonwealth War Graves here from the First World War

One of the chapels which I think are still in use

Same chapel looking at the West end

The Norths side

here we look east to the second chapel

The north side of the cemetery has some of the older memorials

the grass around which is kept neat and tidy

the paths are still there to walk around

J.E.Stevens of the Royal Naval Air Service

Quite an unusual memorial but shows the link to the area of Abingdon Airfield

This path leads to the new cemetery

Heading East towards the second chapel

Unusual seeing a monument like this

The second of the chapels in the cemetery now used by one of the local undertakers as a chapel of rest

Must admit the chapels at Abingdon cemetery look very impressive

The person buried here with is wife is an Ex Commando so I'm surprised he does not have a Commonwealth War grave headstone

These six graves belong to RAF personnel who I no doubt came from the nearby RAF base

Nearby is the chapel

which is the first one you see coming through the gates

The original gates to Abingdon cemetery

On walking through you can see the path runs two ways to the chapels

Last view of the cemetery then it's around to the new cemetery just along the road

This is a stitch photo showing the cemtery

One of the first War graves I came across and one of the few angels I came across

This was the area I was looking for which contained the Graves of the men killed in an Air Crash a few miles away at Sutton Wick

The graves stand among many others who were killed in service of our country

Both sides of the cemetery are in use

This grave seemed to be on it's own

The left hand side was where most of the war graves are & I came across another set grouped together

Looking at the date I noticed they were the 6th July 1965

Sergeant J.I.Borthwick

and they were all buried beside each other

Sergeant J.Hurry

I waited till I got home to confirm but  but I thought they were the personnel killed in another air crash not far away at Little Baldon

 Leading Aircraftman M.R.Ireland

Above the grave of Flight Sergent (RTD) Peter McGuire

Right the far end of the cemetery were you find the more recent burials

Black seems to be the main colour of the headstones here

Looking back to the entrance of the cemetery

The graves at the end here are all well tended with fresh flowers but it was starting to drizzle and I needed to visit another church before going home

On the way back I noticed this new grave with a floral arrangement on it in the shape of a plane
My feelings on leaving the cemetery is that I think it is sad that a designated Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery had not been set up like at Oxford & Reading and even Harwell. I think for such a large town that used to be the main town in Berkshire more recognition should have been  provided for those who gave their live for our country.

Till Next time have a safe week