VC winners Arnos Vale

[Spasm]

Went off today to try to find some VC winners in our local cemetery, Arnos Vale in Bristol, UK

Arnos Vale cemetery seems to have been abandoned towards the end of the last century and is being restored. It is a 45 acre site with hundreds of thousands of burials. I was looking for Harry Wood, Danny Burges both WW1 and Cronow Davis who was awarded the VC in the Crimea. I only found Harry.

You can see that this large cemetery being restored generally by volunteers is going to take some work - if clearing of the whole area is the plan. It seems to be right as it is, a very soulful place.

[Spasm]

A few veterans dotted about, Harry was easily found, right in front of the memorial. A couple of sailors, one from Norway, and Flying Officer Roy Rogers of the RAF amongst a lot of others.

It poured with rain - it seemed fitting.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Spasm

[Rogi]

Wow, sad to hear about the neglect, why is the reason for it going in this state? Lack of funds? No one to take care of it etc?

Is there a volunteer organization that might be willing to do a cleaning of the cemetery (or organizations) that might expedite the process?

[Spasm]

I believe it was a privately run cemetery with the first burials there in the 1830s. With cemeteries filling up in the 1920s, Arnos Vale was one of the first to have a crematorium. It became disused and neglected later in the century - during the late 80s and into the 90s I think - just shows you how quickly nature can take over. Volunteers have been working on it since the early 2000s aided with lottery funding. Some of the listed buildings are still on the risk list.

It's actually a very nice place with the graves hidden in the woodland and underneath all the ivy. The front part of the cemetery is like any other, well looked after, neat and trimmed. As you walk into the woodland and across the 45 acres it becomes more disused and overgrown. A place of calm and shade amongst the trees overgrowing the graves.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Spasm

[muckaroon1960]

Thanks for sharing this with us and if possible would be nice to see any updates on the cemetery restoration.