Monument record MDO4661 - Friends' Burial Ground, 33 St James Street, Shaftesbury

Burial ground of former Friends' Meeting House, which became derelict by 1950 and now garden of a house. It contained early 19th century and later headstones.

Former Friend's Burial ground in front of former Friends' Meeting House on St James' Road, Shaftesbury. The meeting house was built in 1746 and became derelict in 1950. The burial ground had a number of small headstones of early 19th century date, including Robert Ackland, 1833. (1)

<1> Stell, C, 1991, An Inventory of Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses in South-West England, 127 (Monograph). SDO11597.

<2> Stock, G, 1994, Six Quaker Burial Grounds in Dorset: A Brief Topographical Survey (Unpublished document). SWX8616.

SHAFTESBURY (NGR ST 8604 2266; 182.11m AOD) burial ground lay behind 33A St James Street, the original Meeting House, now a private residence called 'Quaker Cottage'. It formed the garden of No 33A and also of another private house, which had been the second Meeting House, situated at the far end of the burial ground. Although both houses wer now in private ownership, the garden / burial ground was still in the ownership of the Religious Society of Friends (house owners personal communications). Small headstones with semi-circular tops as at Bridport 'New', remained in situ in the flower beds and showed that the axis was south-west (head) to north-east.

Shaftesbury was recognisable as a burial ground by the extant headstones in sympathetic surroundings and it was thought to be afforded some protection by the ownership status. Reports on Burial Grounds (1843) gave the area as 3700 square feet (344 square metres) and Trusts & Trust Properties (1870) as 126 feet by 43 feet (503 metres), but it was not possible to test the accuracy during the visit, although subjectively the latter was favoured …

Reference to Trusts & Trust Properties (1870) … revealed that the period of use for burial … was as follows:
Shaftesbury: 1745 and was in use 1870 but not in 1994.

Record last edited

Nov 1 2013 4:12PM