Ford Park Cemetery was established in 1848 by the Plymouth Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery Company. It covers 34.5 acres of land adjoining Central Park in the heart of Plymouth. During Victorian times it was the main burial place for the Three Towns and it remained the leading burial ground for Plymouth until well into the 20th century.
Many of the great figures from the City's past are buried within this historic site. As the population of the Three Towns grew during the 19th century so the Cemetery prospered. It was extended in 1875, 16½ acres being added to the original 18 acres. There is an interesting photograph of the Cemetery in 1898 in the Francis Frith photo collection. By 1900 annual burials exceeded 3,000. There were greenhouses and stables, flowerbeds abounded and monumental masons and florists were established nearby.
The architects who designed the Cemetery were a Gloucester partnership of J R Hamilton and James Medland, who were the winners of a competition organised by the directors of the Cemetery Company. George Wightwick, a local architect, was runner up. Their design included two chapels, one for the Church of England and one for the Nonconformists, and the Lodge, which, with a later extension for a boardroom, stands unaltered today though now in private hands.
The Cemetery received three direct hits during the Blitz in October 1940 and one of them destroyed the Nonconformist Chapel. It was rebuilt in the late 1950s in a simpler but still traditional style and remains in use for services today. The Church of England Chapel was deconsecrated in the 1990s and sadly is used to store machinery. The Trust hopes in due course to restore this beautiful building with the help of Heritage Lottery funding.
The Company running the Cemetery faced mounting difficulties after the Second World War due to the increasing popularity of cremation and the corresponding decline in the number of burials.

It finally went into voluntary liquidation in 1999. Ford Park Cemetery Trust, which is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status, took over the Cemetery in April 2000 and now manages it as a working cemetery for the people of Plymouth. It is estimated that there are over 10,000 useable grave spaces remaining.

To contact us call 01752 665442, Fax 01752 601177 or
e-mail at info@ford-park-cemetery.org