Hertfordshire Cemeteries: Welwyn Hatfield Borough

This week the Deceased Online database adds burial records for two more Hertfordshire cemeteries. In this post, I look at these new registers as well as those of other burial grounds in the Hertfordshire Collection.  

Deceased Online's exclusive Hertfordshire Collection now includes ten cemeteries, dating back to 1801. Across the ten cemeteries there are over 200,000 records for more than 90,000 individual names and burials. The Hertfordshire records can be found on the website in the "East of England" region drop-down box. Hertfordshire borders north London and you may find, like me, that your Hertfordshire ancestors travelled back and forth to work in the capital. 

Row of trees at Hatfield Hyde Cemetery (c) Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

The latest additions are Welwyn Hatfield Lawn and Hatfield Hyde Cemeteries. Their records of original registers, grave details and cemetery section maps come from Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. The registers for Hatfield Hyde Cemetery (Hollybush Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 4JU) date from 1923. Welwyn Hatfield Lawn Cemetery (Southway, Hatfield, AL10 8HS) opened in 1984.  

The register for Hatfield Hyde records the address where death took place. For most entries this is the name of a hospital. The entry from the front page of the register below includes deaths that occurred in Welwyn Garden City, Ware, Hertford and a number of hospitals in London. 

When it was established as England's second garden city in 1920, Welwyn was intended to be a town of "healthy living". Some of its early residents include the actress, Dinah Sheridan (1920-2012) and the town's founder, Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928).

First page of the Burial Register of Hatfield Hyde Cemetery

  The Hertfordshire collection also includes:

• Cheshunt, Bury Green Cemetery (Burials from 7 December 1855)
• Hemel Hempstead, Heath Lane Cemetery (Burials from 28 June 1878)
• Hemel Hempstead, Woodwells Cemetery (Burials from 1 January 1960 )
• Hoddesdon, Ware Road Cemetery (Burials from 16 February 1883)
• Hoddesdon, Heath Lane Cemetery (Burials from 28 June 1878)
• Berkhamsted, Kingshill Cemetery (Burials from 1 November 1947)  
• Tring, Aylesbury Road Cemetery (Burials from 8 May 1894)
• Watford, Carpenders Park Cemetery (Burials from 2 October 1954) 

Carpenders Park Cemetery is notable for those with London ancestry as it is administered by the borough of Brent. This means that those interred are from Brent, which covers Wembley, Kilburn and Willesden, rather than those from Hertfordshire. One unusual aspect of the cemetery is that standing monuments are not allowed. Instead all burials are marked on the lawn with solid bronze or bronze resin plaques.

Also on the database are transcriptions of the removal of graves and tombstones from disused and closed burial grounds and cemeteries, include the following Hertfordshire graveyards:

• Boxmoor Baptist Church, 1840-1885   
  Beechen Grove Baptist Burial Ground, Watford 1801-1935 
  
  
  Bechen Grove Baptist Church continues to function although the current building has been adapted to modern needs. An organised fellowship emerged in this a part of Watford in 1707 and the current church building dates back to 1877.

Thus the Hertfordshire Collection is one of contrasts, including Georgian nonconformists on the one hand and pioneering dwellers of new towns on the other. With over 200,000 records to search, hopefully, you will find your ancestor buried among them.

 

Do let us know if you have found any of your ancestors in the Hertfordshire Collection. We always love to read your comments on our Facebook and Twitter pages!