Joint Burial Committee

Northallerton & Romanby Joint Burial Committee

Northallerton Cemetery

Northallerton Cemetery was established in 1856 as a burial place for the parishes of Northallerton & Romanby. It was formerly the site of a ‘Bishop’s Palace’ a residence of the Bishop of Durham and was given to the town as a burial site following the closure of the church graveyard.

The management and day to day running of the cemetery is the responsibility of the Northallerton & Romanby Joint Burial Committee which is a committee formed by four councillors from each of Northallerton Town Council and Romanby Parish Council who are the administrative bodies for the two areas and therefore owners of the cemetery. The committee meets every three months to make decisions regarding the cemetery and its responsibilities include maintaining the cemetery regulations and rules, setting budgets and charges, monitoring spending as well as any other issues affecting the cemetery.

The day to day running and maintenance is carried out by the three employees being a part-time Clerk, a full time Caretaker who lives on site in the cemetery lodge and a part time Assistant Caretaker. The caretaker and assistant caretaker are responsible for all maintenance in the cemetery including grass cutting, digging and preparing graves for burials and maintenance of trees, hedges, fencing etc.

Graves in the cemetery date back to the cemetery’s formation in 1856 and there are two chapels in the cemetery which were built around this time. The old part of the cemetery was split into two sides with the left side and chapel being for Church of England burials and the right side and chapel for ‘non-conformist’ burials. The chapels have not been used for many years and are now used by the cemetery and Town Council to store machinery etc.

The cemetery is also home to a number of commonwealth war graves from both the first and second world wars. There is also the grave of Lance Corporal Ben Hyde who was one of six military policemen killed in Iraq in 2003.

In the oldest part of the cemetery there are a number of large headstones that are laid flat for safety reasons. There is currently an ongoing project to re-erect these headstones and excellent progress is being made.

Families have no direct responsibilities or tasks but many will visit the cemetery and place flowers etc on the graves of loved ones. Headstones on the graves are owned by the families and safety testing is carried out by the cemetery and owners notified if repairs are needed.

Within the cemetery is a post box for ‘Letters to Heaven’.  This is well used by children who have lost someone close and want to write a letter to them or do a drawing for them.  Seeded paper can be used and the cemetery team will plant these within the cemetery.

Northallerton & Romanby Joint Burial Committee

Northallerton & Romanby Joint Burial Committee is managed by our team below: