By Pauline Martin As you stroll around Jesmond Old Cemetery, there are always items of interest to focus on, whether it be a grave you haven’t noticed before, an unusual spelling of a name on a monument or, as in the case of this article, the amount (or lack of it, really) of ornamental iron […]

By Pauline Martin. The first Sexton employed by the Newcastle General Cemetery was a Mr. John Atkinson. Born in Morpeth in 1791, John can be found in both the 1841 Census and the 1851 Census, along with his wife Mary and daughters Hannah and Charlotte, living in ‘Jesmond Cemetery’, with his occupation being recorded as […]

Written by Ray Hayes Although we love Jesmond Old Cemetery, being brutally honest, it cannot really match the grand splendour of some of the Victorian cemeteries we’ve visited in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh but it does, nevertheless, have its own fair share of Listed buildings, walls and monuments that we can be justly proud of. […]

A brief history of Villa Real and its connections to Jesmond Old Cemetery By Pauline Martin. Walking round the cemetery I noticed two grave markers that gave Villa Real as the place of death. This led me to looking at the history of the house. Why was it so called? Who else lived there and […]