Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch

Linwood Cemetery is a cemetery located in Linwood, Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the fifth oldest public cemetery in the city. Despite its age is it still open for ashes interment, Hebrew Congregational burials and if there is space in existing family plots. Opened in 1884, it has seen some 20,000 burials. The first burial, of the Sexton's wife, was held in July 1884 before the cemetery was opened. For some years, a tram line stopped within the cemetery before terminating on what is now Pages Road. The tram lines going into the cemetery are still visible under the tar-sealed road leading from the Butterfield Avenue car park. A tram hearse was built at some expense for the time Christchurch City Council but is believed to have never been used.The human remains from the Jewish Cemetery in Hereford Street were relocated to Linwood Cemetery after the Hebrew congregation sold the land of their earlier burial ground. A memorial to those re-interred was put in place but was badly damaged in the February 2011 earthquake.After the removal of the Sexton's house in the 1980s, the cemetery was subject to neglect and vandalism. The Friends of the Linwood Cemetery, a charitable trust, was formed to preserve and maintain the site and promote it as a valuable heritage site for the City. The Christchurch City Council produced a Conservation Plan for the cemetery in 2006.Linwood Cemetery is the resting place of a large number of notable residents. Those buried at Linwood Cemetery include 13 Christchurch mayors, several Members of Parliament, bishops and ministers, and the Peacock family whose philanthropy is associated with the iconic Peacock Fountain in the Botanic Gardens.