IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Heather Court, BOURNE, PE10 0FH

On the outer wall of Image

Part of the planning conditions for the construction of the Elsea Park Estate was the provision of a community centre. This is it.

The developers of the Elsea Park estate at Bourne financed and built this new £750,000 community centre which opened in 2012 and is now the centre of social life for many people in the town as well as inhabitants of the estate where almost half of the planned 2,000 homes have already been built and occupied.

A replica of the Angel of the North by Antony Gormley measuring 14 feet across and six feet high was made from wheat reed and foam by Sarah Walton, an art graduate who previously worked as his assistant, for the British Food Fortnight Exhibition in 2007. It was then offered to parishes which participated in the Britain in Bloom competition, so ending up at the far end of the town cemetery at Bourne “for as long as it lasts” which was expected to be around one year in outdoor conditions but has now disappeared.

The town cemetery was opened in 1855 covering four acres but in 1904 it was extended to 5½ acres and in 1999 when land for further burial plots was exhausted, a further two acres were added beyond the original red brick perimeter wall and this is known today as the new cemetery.

Jane Redmile (1800-83), a farmer’s daughter, lived a life of unyielding faith, selfless service and sense of charity which singled her out as a special person in her lifetime and her memory shines undimmed today as an example of the perfect life. She is buried in the town cemetery where a stone memorial marks her last resting place, now discoloured and the inscription eroded by wind and weather, the grave shared with her father, William Redmile, who died in 1858.

Part of a major new housing development on the south side of Bourne http://homepages.which.net/~rex/bourne/elseapark.htm

An aerial photograph of Elsea Park taken in August 2005

The town cemetery opened in South Road in 1855 and more than 10,000 people have since been buried there. Further land was added in 1904 and these memorial stones commemorate interments towards the end of the old cemetery which was extended again in 1999 beyond the hedge. See also Image

Wooden seats in memory of those who have died have become a feature of the town cemetery with engraved brass name plates on the back rail but there are now so many lining the main paths that Bourne Town Council has called a temporary halt on permitting any more until a permanent policy on future installations has been decided.