Display boards for the Ascension Burial Ground

The Ascension Burial Ground at the end of All Souls Lane (off Huntingdon Road) is one of Cambridge’s hidden treasures. Founded in 1857 in countryside just outside the town it was intended to relieve the urban churchyards of St Giles and St Peter’s that were too full to use. Here are buried some 2500 residents of north Cambridge, of all faiths and none, including eminent scholars and inventors such as Wittgenstein and Eddington alongside stonemasons (Hibbitts), printers (Heffers) and many other trades, American babies and other tragic child deaths. There are 3 official War Graves, and 26 men who died in the 1st World War and 5 men and 2 women in the 2nd are commemorated here. It is also a City Wildlife Site and has recently won a Cambridgeshire Churchyard Conservation Award, mostly for its botanical interest and our measures to encourage birds, butterflies amphibians, insects etc. It also has most of its original stately trees, giving welcome shade in summer and shelter in winter, and the changing displays of wild and naturalised flowers make it a good space to wander in. Many graves are still visited by relatives of the deceased, so it is also important to provide a peaceful place of beauty for their benefit. Work here is mostly by volunteers (Friends of the Ascension Burial Ground, please join us!), and help is being sought for repair of gravestones from the National Lottery, but it is not an easy site to understand on the ground. Display boards where we can record new discoveries, wildlife activity and seasonal changes would enhance appreciation of the site for many visitors. School visits will be encouraged, we will be able to expand our active Friends Group, which meets monthly to ensure vegetation is cut at the best times for butterflies and botany, and bring in more local people and groups to be involved in practical and research work.