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| Thomas Smith, late of this parish |
Like
many other churchyards which had for 500 years or more been plenty big enough
to contain the bodies of all its deceased parishioners, St John’s was forced to
expand its burial ground in the early nineteenth century. In still rural
Uxbridge the church was able to acquire land adjacent to the exiting
churchyard, something generally not possible in more crowded central London.
Population growth perhaps played some part in increasing demand for burial
space but the main reason the extra space was needed were the unexpected 18th
century fads for coffins and gravestones. Up to the 17th
century most Englishmen (and women) had been buried in shrouds directly into
the ground, coffins being a relative rarity. A body in a coffin takes considerably
longer to decompose than a body in a shroud and therefore prevents further
burials in the same ground. Once relatives
knew that their dead would remain undisturbed they began wanting to mark the
spot of the interment and the fashion for grave markers developed. Within a few
decades coffins, gravestones and altar tombs gradually occupied all of the
available space in churchyards forcing vestries to acquire land for burials.
St
John’s purchased a plot adjacent to the church for new burials in 1819. The
existing churchyard remained largely untouched and so is a fascinating example
of an eighteenth century burial ground with barely a Victorian intrusion to be
found. It has many headstones dating from the early 1700’s almost of which are
decorated with memento mori, though there are a few with cherubs. Most of these
early gravestones are made from sandstone and have weathered badly, though some
are still in relatively good condition. There are also an unusually large
number of chest or altar tombs the most famous of which belongs to the one time
owner of the Covent Garden Theatre John Rich (died 1761).
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| Here lyes the body of Bertram Hanington who departed this life June ye 22 1705 |
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| A more sophisticated execution of the motif from 1745 |
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| Elizabeth, wife of Richard Edmands |
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| Edward Taylor, 1725 |
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| 18th century altar tombs at Uxbridge |
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