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Arno's Vale

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The memorial to Bristol's war dead at Arno's Vale, the large municipal Victorian cemetery in the city. Arno's Vale has been somewhat neglected and fallen into disrepair in recent years. However, investment is now slowly trickling in and nature has been pushed back to reclaim some of the cemetery, and the buildings should be restored over the next few years.

Keywords: Arnos Vale Cemetery, Arnos Vale, Bristol, England, UK, cemeteries

Taken by Joe D on 2007-03-10 14:32:07 with: NIKON D50 at 18 mm f/9 0.002 sec (1/500) ISO unknown |

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*brambly*

2007-03-17 21:47:23

Reinvestment and a lot of hard work: www.arnosvalefriends.org.uk/ It fell into the hands of a developer who was going to let it deteriorate and then build there. It had to be compulsorily purchased by the Council a couple of years ago after years of activism by the Friends of Arnos Vale. They are doing great work and I'm sure they would be greatful for any help they can get.

Aztec West

2007-03-18 15:50:07

True - it's great to see what's being done there. But I'm amazed that a place like this should EVER have been in private hands. Why wasn't the Council controlling it all along? Didn't it originally start as a Council-run project? If so, at some point a decision must have been made to sell it to a private owner. And what's a private owner going to do with a cemetery? For a start, surely the burial plots have been bought by the families of the people who are actually buried in them! (I couldn't find an answer to this on the arnosvalefriends website)

*brambly*

2007-03-23 13:37:45

I might be wrong but I think it was private all along. The Victorian era wasn't exctly a good time from a Human Rights perspective. Part of the thing that set the ball rolling when Tony Townend decided to demolish it was that people had plots and were planning to be buried next to loved ones who were already there. There's a bit more detail here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnos_Vale_Cemetery and plenty of pictures here: www.bafhs.org.uk/arnos/arnomain1.htm and here: www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/cityviews/arnosvale/1.shtml

Aztec West

2007-03-24 11:48:06

Thanks for that, fuchsia. Some good links there. How very strange to think it was always privately owned. If there's one thing that ought to be publicly owned, it should surely be cemeteries! It's the one place that we all end up going to at some point...

*brambly*

2007-03-26 20:36:18

I just had a closer look. Are those memorials to the war dead in the back wall too? The variety of styles might mean they were paid for by the families. I'm not so sure I'd like to spend eternity c/o the council, thanks.

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