North Road Burial Ground

North Road Burial Ground in Southend-on-Sea had – like many graveyards – languished somewhat unloved for several decades before it was renewed in 2012.

Southend Borough Council managed to secure£1.2 million to rebuild the Prittlewell Chapel that was scheduled for demolition and turn it into one of the most eco friendly buildings in the East of England.

Over 8,000 people are buried on the site, and the Shared Spaces Project by Blade Education created a free database of all their names, dates and locations.

This information is being made available free as an Excel Database and can be downloaded here and is also depositied with the Essex Record Office and the Essex Society for Family History.

Heritage trail boards have also been installed at the cemetery, to serve as a reminder about the real lives lived by the people buried there.
 

One such story was that of Thomas Kerridge, a hansom cab driver who drove people between the Blue Boar Hotel and Southend Victoria railway station. One day in 1925, Thomas was badly injured when he was kicked in the chest by the horse which pulled his cab. He survived the kick, but the wound became infected, and in an age before antibiotics Thomas died a few days later, aged 46. His wife Sarah was left with little income and seven children aged between 13 years and 6 weeks old. It is believed that Thomas was buried at North Road because his family lived close by.

​