Dartford cemeteries
Nigel Richards [nigel4pt@outlook.com]
Friday September 19, 2013
Hi Tim,
I’ve uploaded some further Dartford data to SkyDrive which may be of use to you. It comprises local
authority cemetery records as opposed to the Church of England parish burial records.
Tom & Elizabeth Goodhind were Wesleyan Methodists so their burials are not recorded in the C of E
parish register but are recorded in the Cemeteries Register.
When the Holy Trinity parish graveyard came close to capacity, Dartford Council opened the Brent
Cemetery (later referred to as East Hill Cemetery) in 1856. That is where Tom & Elizabeth Goodhind
are buried.
By the end of the 19th century, Brent/East Hill was filling up and a further cemetery, Watling Street
was opened in 1914.
I had assumed that the original parish graveyard would have been a parcel of land surrounding the
parish church, Holy Trinity, but when I visited Dartford, I couldn’t really make out where the old
churchyard could have been. However, I can see now that the churchyard is, unusually, located away
from the church and is, what is referred to as, the St Edmund’s Pleasance graveyard which is
positioned on the top of East Hill overlooking Holy Trinity Church and Dartford Town in general.
Going back to the 1800 map I see that it is marked as “Churchyard”, although the map doesn’t give
any impression of the terrain.
St Edmund’s Pleasance graveyard was cleared of all but the largest monuments in the 1960s and the
headstones were placed around the boundary walls. Any burials recorded in the Holy Trinity registers
before 1856 will be at St Edmund’s Pleasance whereas after that date they will be at Brent/East Hill.
After 1914 they will be at Watling Street although East Hill would only have been closed with respect
to new graves at that date.
Because William & Ann Goodhind were C of E, their burials appear in the parish register and also in
the Brent/East Hill Cemetery register. My confusion over the location of the parish graveyard meant
that their burial at Brent Cemetery is something that didn’t enter my head. I wish I had known when I
visited Dartford because it is a purchased grave and there may be a headstone.
The cemetery register records William as being a millwright of 135{?} Hythe Street in 1888 and, in
1897 when Ann died, her address is given as 146{√} Lower Waterside (the old street name!). I’ve no
doubt the occupation of millwright is correct because with years of experience William had probably
been responsible for maintaining and calibrating the paper mill machinery.
There are six folders on SkyDrive which I will share separately. There are three cemeteries involved –
(1) East Hill (Brent) and Watling Street, the records of which are combined, (2) Stone & (3)
Swanscombe. There’s an index folder and a register folder for each cemetery.
I haven’t found any family records at either Stone or Swanscombe but I’ve included them
anyway as they are part of the set.
Regards,
Nigel