THE beautiful new waiting room and refurbished chapel at Tavistock?s Plymouth Road cemetery were visited by members of the public last Thursday, part of a special open day organised by the town council. The old mortuary by the entrance of the cemetery has been transformed to create the waiting room. Freshly painted and decorated with historic drawings, it provides a welcoming atmosphere to the bereaved and those remembering friends and relatives. Taking pride of place is the book of remembrance. Cllr Anne Johnson, deputy mayor and chairman of the town?s cemeteries committee, said: ?This room used to be a general store and was used as a mortuary until the 1960s for any death that wasn?t suspicious. ?It?s been cleaned up and made very welcoming. The next job will be re-surfacing the roads within the cemetery. The idea is that this takes place over the next three years.? Cllr Johnson said the present roads were a little rough and not really in keeping with health and safety regulations. ?The camber isn?t right and they were actually made with spoil from the Devon Consols mine, so they do have arsenic in them ? which does mean we don?t get weeds growing!? said Cllr Johnson. The chapel stands at the top of the yew-lined drive. Inside the sandstone walls and ceiling have been cleaned of green mould, the seating has been re-varnished, woodwork re-painted, the floor has been carpeted, heating has been installed and the lights replaced. Electricity cables were laid beneath the ground, so the cemetery retains its natural ambience. Brian Brown, cemetery superintendent, said: ?A lot of people don?t actually know the chapel is here, they say: ?I?ve lived here for years and never realised it?. It used to look a bit drab but it looks so much better now and is much more welcoming for mourners now it has heating.? Plymouth Road Cemetery came into being in the 1880s, when the Duke of Bedford offered land at Mohun?s Fields to the Tavistock Burial Board, after concerns were raised about Dolvin Road Cemetery, which was filling up fast. The town?s new cemetery accommodated around 3,500 grave spaces, its gatehouse designed by London architect Henry Clutton, who also designed Fitzford Church. The first interment was that of Francis John Gerry of Old Exeter Road, who died aged one. He was later joined by relatives in the family plot. There have now been more than 13,000 burials in the cemetery, many of the plots containing several family members. Nowadays, the cemetery plays host to a variety of burial services, both secular and non secular. Mr Brown said: ?Provided it is legal, we will try to accommodate people. People sometimes bring in their own CDs to play, they may have poetry or readings. We had a four piece jazz band for one lady who loved jazz.? In addition to burials, there is an area for the interment of ashes and a comparatively new, green, burial site which has seen around 30 burials since 1999. There are no memorial stones ? the grass is cut rarely and the land is left natural, encouraging the growth of wildflowers and insects. Here, shrouds must be biodegradable and people may be buried in cardboard, wicker or bamboo coffins. The green burials are still under discussion ? a sensitive area, the council is formulating policies which will promote its desire to keep the area absolutely natural, without formal flower planting, while respecting the wishes of families who already have relatives buried in the area. Mr Brown said: ?We are trying to encourage families to place wild flowers around the graves in a random fashion. We have to find a happy medium in trying to please everybody.? All the graves in the green burial area are microchipped and marked on a special map ? families are encouraged to use the book of remembrance to mark the death of loved ones and there is the opportunity to have memorial seats erected. It is hoped the green burial area will soon be delineated from the rest of the cemetery by a natural drystone wall ? a meandering path may also be created in the space, either using bark chippings or clipped grass.
