Dunstable Yesteryear - Dunstable Cemetery records are now online

The roundabout in West Street, Dunstable, at the junction with Chiltern Road, is pictured here in 1974. Unusually for Dunstable, the scene has not changed too much in the past 50 years, although the trees have been allowed to grow tall and now hide the view of Dunstable Downs.

Dunstable Cemetery, on the left, was opened in 1861 when it was becoming clear that there would soon be insufficient space for further burials in Priory churchyard. A Luton architect, George Halton, designed the cemetery chapel building.

Dunstable at the time did not have its own council and a local committee of 13 people was formed to buy the necessary land. With remarkable foresight, they purchased more than was immediately necessary and rented out the surplus until it became needed. The burial ground has subsequently been able to extend as the town’s population increased. Today, its numerous monuments in the large and tranquil setting provide a fascinating glimpse of the town’s history.

Dunstable and District Local History Society has just completed the considerable task of downloading many of the burial records onto its website, www.dunstablehistory.co.uk, so that these can now be viewed worldwide. This is a continuation of the work of a group headed by June Byrne which spent around eight years transcribing the records and deciphering the inscriptions on some of the weathered headstones. The records began with the burial of four-year-old James Turney, who died from an illness in October 1861. He was the son of Thomas and Eliza Turney, of Church Street. Thomas worked as the driver of a horse-drawn omnibus. The records on the website are complete up to 1949, although there are some later burials included.

Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.