Kingsbridge Friends Burial Ground
Photo added by Neil Higgins

Kingsbridge Friends Burial Ground

Also known as Kingsbridge Quaker Burial Ground

Kingsbridge, South Hams District, Devon, England

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  • Get directions 24 Fore Street, Kingsbridge
    Kingsbridge, South Hams District, Devon TQ7 1NY England
    Coordinates: 50.28445, -3.77774
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The first recorded burial in Kingsbridge is that of Joseph Weamouth, the son of Robert Weamouth of Malborough. He was buried on April 4th 1661. The position of the burying ground at that time is not recorded.This was time of great suffering for the Quakers in Britain and it was not unusual for their burial grounds to be hidden. After the Toleration Act was passed in 1689 the Friends were allowed their own burial grounds.
It is known that there were Quaker meetings at Kingsbridge by 1668. In 1697, a plot in Fore Street was acquired for £9 for a meeting house and a burial ground. A meeting house was built in 1703; it was re-roofed in 1802. In 1871, the meeting was discontinued and the building was let to Freemasons and the Salvation Army. In 1879, another burial ground nearby (at the corner of Dunscombe Street and Fore Street) was sold to the trustees of the town lands and in 1881 the burials were exhumed and moved to the small burial ground behind the meeting house. In 1917, the former meeting house was sold to the Roman Catholic congregation. (The building is still in use as a Catholic chapel; it is grade II listed.)
Part of the Quaker Burying Ground still survives at the rear of the Sacred Heart Church in Fore St, Kingsbridge.
The first recorded burial in Kingsbridge is that of Joseph Weamouth, the son of Robert Weamouth of Malborough. He was buried on April 4th 1661. The position of the burying ground at that time is not recorded.This was time of great suffering for the Quakers in Britain and it was not unusual for their burial grounds to be hidden. After the Toleration Act was passed in 1689 the Friends were allowed their own burial grounds.
It is known that there were Quaker meetings at Kingsbridge by 1668. In 1697, a plot in Fore Street was acquired for £9 for a meeting house and a burial ground. A meeting house was built in 1703; it was re-roofed in 1802. In 1871, the meeting was discontinued and the building was let to Freemasons and the Salvation Army. In 1879, another burial ground nearby (at the corner of Dunscombe Street and Fore Street) was sold to the trustees of the town lands and in 1881 the burials were exhumed and moved to the small burial ground behind the meeting house. In 1917, the former meeting house was sold to the Roman Catholic congregation. (The building is still in use as a Catholic chapel; it is grade II listed.)
Part of the Quaker Burying Ground still survives at the rear of the Sacred Heart Church in Fore St, Kingsbridge.

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  • Added: 6 Aug 2021
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2735796