{{Short description|Cemetery in Oxford, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox cemetery | name = Holywell Cemetery<br />St Cross Cemetery | image = Holywell Cemetery entrance 2024.jpg | imagesize = | caption = The entrance to Holywell Cemetery in 2024 | map_type = | map_size = | map_caption = | established = 1847 | country = United Kingdom | location = St Cross Church, Oxford | coordinates = {{coord|51|45|21|N|1|14|50|W|display=inline}} | type = | style = Wildlife refuge | owner = | size = | graves = | interments = | cremations = | leases = ''Closed to new burials'' | website = | findagrave = 2175352 | political = }} '''Holywell Cemetery''' lies behind St Cross Church in St Cross Road, Oxford, England, south of Holywell Manor on Manor Road and north of Longwall Street, in the parish of Holywell.
==History== In the mid-19th century, the graveyards of the six parishes in central Oxford became full, so Merton College made some of its land available to form the cemetery in 1847. The cemetery was established along with Osney Cemetery and St Sepulchre's Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/burials/burial_grounds/ | title=Burial grounds in the city of Oxford | work=Oxford History: Burials in Oxford | publisher=www.oxfordhistory.org.uk | location=UK | access-date=31 October 2014 }}</ref> In 1855, new burials were forbidden at all Oxford city churches, apart from existing vaults.
The cemetery is now a wildlife refuge with many birds (including pheasants that nest there), butterflies, and small and larger mammals, including muntjac deer and foxes. Hedgehogs are also known to live there.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
==Notable interments and memorials== [[File:In Memoriam Bullard gravestone, Oxford.jpg|thumb|upright|"In Memoriam Bullard" memorial stone in Holywell Cemetery]] A number of well-known people are buried in the cemetery, including: * Sir Henry Acland,<ref name="Lack">Lack, 2010, p. 39</ref> physician and educator, and Sarah, Lady Acland,<ref name="Lack"/> after whom the Acland Home is named * James Blish, the American expatriate author * Sir Reader Bullard and his sons Sir Giles Bullard and Sir Julian Bullard, all diplomats * Sir Maurice Bowra, Warden of Wadham College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University<ref name="Lack"/> * John William Burgon, Dean of Chichester Cathedral<ref name="Lack"/> * Theophilus Carter, said to be the model for the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' * George Claridge Druce, botanist and Mayor of Oxford * Hugo Dyson, member of the Inklings<ref name="Lack"/> * Francis Edgeworth, statistician and economist * Austin Farrer, Warden of Keble College, Oxford * Kenneth Grahame, author of ''The Wind in the Willows''<ref name="Lack"/> * Abel Hendy Jones Greenidge, classical historian formerly of Balliol, Hertford and Brasenose * Francis Llewellyn Griffith, Egyptologist and founder of the Griffith Institute<ref name=ODNB>R. S. Simpson, [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33579 Francis Llewellyn Griffith (1862–1934)] – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) – Oxford University Press – Published in print: 23 September 2004 Published online: 23 September 2004</ref> * Nora Griffith, Egyptologist and founder of the Griffith Institute<ref name=ODNB/> * Charles Buller Heberden, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University * Andrew John Herbertson, geographer * William West Jones, Archbishop of Cape Town * Sir Richard Lodge, historian * Agnes Catherine Maitland, educationist, principal at Somerville College * Max Müller, philologist and Orientalist, Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford * Walter Pater, essayist and critic<ref name="Lack"/> * Bartholomew Price, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford * Lord Redcliffe-Maud, civil servant and Master of University College, Oxford, and his wife Jean Redcliffe-Maud * Sir John Rhys, Principal of Jesus College, Oxford * George Rolleston, physician and zoologist * John Stainer, composer and organist<ref name="Lack"/> * Kenneth Tynan, theatre critic and author<ref name="Lack"/> * Sir Paul Vinogradoff, historian * Sir Herbert Warren, President of Magdalen College, Oxford<ref name="Lack"/> * Charles Williams, novelist, poet, and member of the Inklings<ref name="Lack"/> * William Wallace, Scottish philosopher * F. H. Bradley, British idealist philosopher<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/holywell/misc/holywell_cemetery_famous.html|title=Holywell Cemetery, Oxford: Famous people|website=www.oxfordhistory.org.uk}}</ref> * A. C. Bradley, British literary scholar<ref name="auto"/> * Henry George Woods, President of Trinity College, Oxford<ref name="Oxford DNB - Margaret">{{cite ODNB|last1=Vogeler|first1=Martha S.|title=Woods , Margaret Louisa (1855–1945)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38890|access-date=6 January 2015|date=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38890 }}</ref> * Margaret Louisa Woods, poet and novelist<ref name="Oxford DNB - Margaret" />
A wooden grave marker that was used to mark the grave of the England Rugby captain Ronald Poulton-Palmer at Ploegsteert Wood is affixed to a wall in the cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gazetteer|url=http://archives.balliol.ox.ac.uk/History/gazetteer.asp|work=Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts|publisher=Balliol College, Oxford|access-date=9 August 2012}}</ref>
The cemetery contains three war graves that are maintained and registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – two British Army officers from the First World War and a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer from the Second World War.<ref name="cwgc">{{cite web| url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/43169/HOLYWELL%20CEMETERY,%20OXFORDSHIRE | work=CWGC Cemetery Report | title=Breakdown obtained from casualty record | publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission }}Date accessed 9 September 2012.</ref>
==Friends== Friends of Holywell Cemetery has been established to raise funds and manage the cemetery.<ref>{{citation| title=The Friends of Holywell Cemetery: Holywell Cemetery | work=Noticeboard | location=Holywell Cemetery }}</ref>
==See also== * Osney Cemetery * St Sepulchre's Cemetery * Wolvercote Cemetery
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite journal |last=Lack |first=Alastair |title=The Valhalla of Oxford |journal=Oxfordshire Limited Edition |date=March 2010 | publisher=The Oxford Times |pages=35–39 }}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060617165027/http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/holywellcemetery/ ''This is Oxfordshire'' information] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061002025337/http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/AZDirectory2/O/FRIENDS%20OF%20HOLYWELL%20CEMETERY.html Friends of Holywell Cemetery] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060414033019/http://www.cowleyhistory.org.uk/html/titles_31.html Holywell Cemetery: An Oxford Secret] by Janet Keene * {{Find a Grave cemetery|2175352|St. Cross Churchyard, aka Holywell Cemetery}} * [http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/holywell/misc/holywell_cemetery_famous.html Holywell Cemetery, Oxford: Famous people]
{{Cemeteries in England}}
Category:1847 establishments in England Category:Cemeteries established in the 1840s Category:Christianity in Oxford Category:Anglican cemeteries in the United Kingdom Category:Cemeteries in Oxford