IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Epsom Way, BOURNE, PE10 0WH

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.

On the outer wall of Image

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

One of the few stone monuments in Bourne is the Ostler memorial fountain, a fine example of Victorian gothic erected by public subscription in 1860 as a memorial to one of the town's 19th century worthies, property owner John Lely Ostler (1811-59), and paid for by public subscription. The fountain was originally sited in the market place but a century later it had become an obstruction to increasing traffic flows and so in 1962 it was moved stone by stone to the town’s cemetery in South Road. In July 2007, the fountain was given a Grade II listing and Bourne Town Council subsequently agreed to spend £9,000 on restoration which included the erection of protective iron railings. See the memorial before restoration Image

The memorial drinking fountain erected to celebrate the life of John Lely Ostler (1811-59) began life in the market place, now the town centre, but was moved to the cemetery in 1962 and is pictured here before being Grade II listed and restored by the town council at a cost of £9,000 - see Image