Although a Church of England site, the cemetery includes the graves of many non-conformists, reflecting the demographics of the parish in the 19th and 20th centuries, which covered much of West Cambridge.[1]
It was established in 1857 while the city of Cambridge was undergoing rapid expansion, although the first burial was not until 1869.[1] It covers one and a half acres and contains 1,500 graves with 2,500 burials.[1] Originally surrounded by open fields, it is now bounded by trees and the gardens of detached houses,[2] and is a designated city wildlife site.[1]
In 2020 it was formally closed to new burials by an Order in Council,[3] and responsibility for its upkeep was transferred to Cambridge City Council.[4]
The former chapel of rest is now used as the workshop of letter-carver Eric Marland.[5][6]
Max Perutz, OM, FRS, Molecular Biologist, Nobel Prize winner, Fellow of Peterhouse, and wife Gisela Perutz; their cremated remains are buried together with his parents Hugo and Dely Perutz.[29]
Gerald Shove,[33] economist and Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, and Fredegond Shove, poet, step-daughter of Sir Francis Darwin; her mother was Lady Darwin, formerly Florence Maitland;
Lucy Joan Slater,[34] Mathematician and Recorder of Ascension Parish Burial Ground, buried in her mother's grave (Lucy Slater, Classicist[8])
George Smee, solicitor, and wife Eliza Smee; monument designed by Jacob Epstein.[8]
Bridget Spufford,[7] after whom "Bridget's Hostel", Cambridge was named; daughter of Professors Peter Spufford and the late Margaret Spufford, sister of Francis Spufford. She is buried with her grandmother, Mary Clark, née Johnson.
Sir Alfred St Valery Tebbitt,[citation needed] managing director of Kirby, Beard & Co. and British Chamber of Commerce, Paris, and of the Hertford British Hospital, Paris, and wife Lady Gladys St. Valery Tebbitt, née Pendrell Smith.
^ a b c d"Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground". Faculty of Divinity 50 Treasures. University of Cambridge Faculty of Divinity. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^"St Giles Cemetery, Cambridge". Parks & Gardens. The Hestercombe Gardens Trust. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^"Privy Council Office - Burial Act 1853". The Gazette. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^"Cambridge's 'most historic burial ground' to be managed by city council following royal decision". Cambridge City Council. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^"History of Churches & Burial Grounds". Church at Castle (website run on behalf of local churches). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
^Webb, Takka Productions Limited | Design by Webb &. "The Art Workers' Guild | Eric Marland". The Art Workers’ Guild. Retrieved 29 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq"A Cambridge Necropolis" by Dr. Mark Goldie, March 2000, for the Friends of The Parish of The Ascension Burial Ground
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as atAscension Parish Burial Ground Formerly St.Giles' and St. Peter's Burial Ground, Cambridge City Council Planning Department, 1995
^ a b cHayes, John (2020). "G.E.M. ANSCOMBE—Irish-born philosopher". History Ireland. 28 (5): 42–44. ISSN 0791-8224. JSTOR 26934660.
^"Bendall, Cecil". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Besant, William Henry". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Blackman, Frederick Frost". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Burn, Robert". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Capstick, John Walton". Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"[Obituary] Sarah J. Clackson". The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists. 40 (1–4). 2003. hdl:2027/spo.0599796.0040.001:02.
^ a b c"Britain's brainiest cemetery". BBC News. 10 September 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Ewing, James Alfred". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"=Roberto Gerhard: Selected Works". Virtuoso Channel. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Hobson, Ernest William". Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Cambridge Individuals". MacTutor. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Captain Robert Williams Michell". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^Knewstubb, Peter (2012). "William Loudon Mollison (1851–1929)" (PDF). Clare Association Annual: 65–67. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Obituary, Mr. Andrew Munro, Queens' College, Cambridge". The Times. 3 July 1935.
^"Search Results". catalogues.royalsociety.org.
^Goldie, Mark (2009). A Guide to Churchill College, Cambridge. pp. 62–63.
^"Rivers, William Halse Rivers". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37898. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Huntingdon Road: chapel for Ascension Parish Burial Ground". Cambridge 2000. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^The Times obituary, 18 August 1947.
^"History of Churches and Burial Grounds". Church at Castle. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^"Taylor, Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36427. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Funeral of Mr. Vansittart", The Cambridge Review, vol. 3, no. 68, Cambridge Review Committee, p. 280, 1882
^"Trinity College Chapel - Denys Arthur Winstanley". Trinity College, Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
"Final resting place of the dead clever finds friends". Cambridge News. 13 September 2010. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Goldie, Mark (10 September 2010). "Britain's brainiest cemetery". BBC News – Today. Archived from the original on 11 September 2010.
"History of Churches & Burial Grounds". Church at Castle (website run on behalf of local churches). Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
"Dead Scholar's Society". University of Cambridge. 10 September 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2023.