The Brighton Extra Mural Company was formed in 1850 by Cordy Burrows and Rev. John Nelson Goulty, with architect A.H. Wilds, to provide for private burials.
No CA
LLHA0114
Following the 1848 Public Health Act, a Government Inspector recommended no further burials take place in or around the town’s churches and chapels. In this light, the Brighton Extra Mural Company was formed in 1850 by Cordy Burrows and Rev.
John Nelson Goulty, with architect A.H. Wilds, to provide for private burials. They acquired 13 acres of land which were consecrated in 1851 for Church of England burials, with small areas also provided for Nonconformist and Roman Catholic burials. The Marquess of Bristol gave a further 5 acres which were consecrated in 1857. The latter subsequently has become the Garden of Remembrance attached to Woodvale Cemetery. Burial in or around the churches and chapels of Brighton became illegal in 1854.
The Vestry could not afford to pay for the burial of the town’s poor in the Extra Mural Cemetery, however. The Marquess of Bristol gave them 20 acres of land on the east side of Lewes Road, immediately to the south of the Extra Mural Cemetery. This is now known as Woodvale Cemetery. Woodvale Cemetery and The Extra Mural Cemetery are now physically interlinked. The Extra Mural Cemetery was laid out by Amon Henry Wilds – originally within a valley in the Downs and on the then edge of the town. It contains a number of buildings in a high Victorian Gothic revival style as well as a large number of elaborate tombs, mausoleums and headstones of varying dates and styles.
A number of eminent Brightonians were buried in the cemetery. It remained in existence for about 100 years, but became less prosperous. By the time of World War II it had largely ceased operation. The Brighton Corporation acquired the freehold and assumed responsibility for maintenance alongside its adjoining cemetery. Source: Dale 1991
ii. A good example of a private cemetery in a High Victorian style, with Gothic architecture
iv. Laid out by notable local architect Amon Henry Wilds
i. A number of notable Brightonians are buried within the cemetery
ii. The need for a new cemetery of such a size illustrates the vast expansion of the town at this time, and the contemporary developments in public hygiene
ii. Not within a conservation area, the cemetery forms a picturesque and well-designed landscape
iv. The cemetery contains and provides the setting for a number of listed structures. It is also closely associated with the neighbouring Woodvale Crematorium, which is a registered park and garden
i. Much of the designed landscape and the associated structures survive intact
2015
