Osney Cemetery

{{Short description|Cemetery in Oxford, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}} {{Use British English|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox cemetery | name = Osney Cemetery | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Gravestones in Osney Cemetery - geograph.org.uk - 3321743.jpg | image_size = | alt = View of cemetery | caption = Gravestones in Osney Cemetery | pushpin map = | map_type = | map_size = | map_caption = | mapframe = | established = 1848 | closed = 1960 | location = Osney, Oxford | country = United Kingdom | coordinates = {{coord|51.749747|N|1.269941|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | type = Anglican | style = | owner = | size = | graves = | interments = | cremations = | leases = | website = | politicalgeo = | footnotes = | nrhp = | embedded = }} '''Osney Cemetery''' (also known as Osney St Mary Cemetery) is a disused Church of England cemetery in Osney, west Oxford, England. Its entrance is in Osney Lane, which runs off the south end of Mill Street, south of Botley Road and near the site of Osney Abbey. It borders the Cherwell Valley Line railway a short distance south of Oxford railway station.

thumb|left|View of Osney Cemetery in winter The cemetery was established in Oxford in 1848, along with Holywell Cemetery and St Sepulchre's Cemetery,<ref>[http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/burials/burial_grounds/ Burial grounds in the city of Oxford], [http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/burials/ Burials in Oxford].</ref> because central Oxford churchyards were becoming full. In 1855, new burials were forbidden at all Oxford city churches, apart from in existing vaults.

[[File:Lych gate to the cemetery - geograph.org.uk - 1380878.jpg|thumb|upright|Lych gate entrance to the cemetery]] Each of these three new parish cemeteries provided an extension to the churchyards for a specific group of nearby churches, with each church having its own area. Osney Cemetery covered the four ancient parishes of St Aldate's, St Ebbe’s, St Peter-le-Bailey, and St Thomas, and the new parish of Holy Trinity, which had been taken out of St Ebbe’s parish in 1845. The burials in Osney Cemetery are recorded in the parish register for each of these churches just as if they had taken place in its actual churchyard. From 1872, the dead of the new church of St Frideswide, whose parish had been taken out of that of St Thomas, were also buried in Osney Cemetery.

Christ Church was still an extra-parochial non-royal peculiar (exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese) when Osney Cemetery opened, but by 1901 it had been given space in the St Thomas's section of Osney Cemetery called "Christ Church portion".

The entrance to Osney Cemetery has a lych gate.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/simoncole/1402256750/in/photostream/ | title=Lych-gate at Osney Cemetery | website=Flickr | access-date=22 April 2026 }}</ref>

The cemetery contains 26 Commonwealth war graves from the First World War and also one British soldier killed in the Second World War.<ref name="cwgc">{{cite web| url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/43170/ | title=Oxford (Osney St. Mary) Cemetery | publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission | access-date=22 April 2026 }}</ref>

The cemetery was closed to new burials in 1960, and the chapel was demolished in 1963.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://archive-cat.chch.ox.ac.uk/places/b5dd82ff-7305-43b6-bd60-9ce728783c92 | title=Osney Cemetery | work=Archive Catalogue | publisher=Christ Church, Oxford | location=UK | accessdate=22 April 2026 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decC/Cemeteries_service_occw.htm Cemetery Services], Oxford City Council.</ref> It is still a large green space in central Oxford. In 2006, it was proposed to plant more native trees in the area.<ref>[http://www.oxfordsoftwaredocumentation.com/wowg/osney_cemetery.html Osney Cemetery planting project], [http://www.oxfordsoftwaredocumentation.com/wowg/ West Oxford Wildlife Group], 2006.</ref>

==Some notable interments== * Charles Bigg (1840–1908), Church of England clergyman, theologian, and church historian * William Bright (1824–1901), English ecclesiastical historian and Anglican priest * Charles Abel Heurtley (1806–1895), English theologian * Kenneth Escott Kirk (1886–1954), Bishop of Oxford

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commonscat}} * [http://www.ofhs.org.uk/CDsales.html#OXF-MON07 Monumental inscriptions] (available on CD) * [https://mursejlerne.blogspot.com/2009/06/osney-cemetery.html Mursejlerne photographs: Osney Cemetery]

Category:1848 establishments in England Category:1960 disestablishments in England Category:Cemeteries in Oxford Category:Anglican cemeteries in the United Kingdom Category:Christianity in Oxford Category:Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England