Welcome to the Leverington Road, Cemetery Pocket Park

Wisbech General Cemetery was set up in 1836 primarily as a cemetery for non-conformists. The land was purchased from one of the leading nonconformists of the day, Mr. Joshua Bland, and the cost was defrayed by the selling of shares in what was hoped to become a profitable company. The land was laid out as a formal garden, copying the design of the first public cemetery at Kensal Green in London.

Over the next one hundred years many prominent citizens of Wisbech were buried here; Samuel Smith, (it was he who took the now famous photographs of the chapel), together with his wife and family, members of the Dawbarn family, Ollards, Southwells and Gardiners.

Samuel Smith 1802 - 1892

Leverington Road Cemetery Chapel 1856

The Friends of Leverington Road Cemetery were formed in 1992/3. This small group of volunteers work in conjunction with Fenland District Council, the owners of the site, Cambridgeshire County Council, The National Trust, Wisbech Society, Cambs Wildlife Trust and Wisbech Tourism Development Group. The aim is to formulate a short term restoration plan and a long term management plan which will allow the area to become a multifunctional heritage centre for an under-resourced area of northern Cambridgeshire.

The project aims to develop the now closed Leverington Road Cemetery site in Wisbech for tourism, heritage, educational, access and wildlife uses. This involves maintenance of the precious three acre woodland site and wildlife habitat. It includes provision for a full ecological survey and an updating of an existing history of the site, important grave stones restored, original structure of the grounds renovated and the chapel building made secure.

Good woodland management, maintaining open pathway glades, a mosaic of shrub types and heights and a canopy of mature trees will conserve the natural heritage of the site. It will provide an oasis for quiet recreation in the arable landscape of the Fens.

The site is linked to the Nene Way long distance footpath, the National Cycle Route, the local Fenland Countryside Access Project route and the grounds of Peckover estate. It provides a destination for walkers, tourists, students of local history and those who wish to relax quietly.

Fenland District Council have agreed to long term funding for the maintenance of the site and local organisations all realise the cultural and tourism potential of the site and have given donations to the project.

In October 2000 the Friends of Leverington Road Cemetery received a grant of over £9000 towards the cost of restoring the cemetery from the Local Heritage Initiative