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St Sepulchre's Cemetery is a historic cemetery located on
Walton Street,
Jericho
Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017.
F ...
, central
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
The cemetery was opened in 1848 as a cemetery for the Oxford parishes of St Giles, St Michael, and St Mary Magdalen, and the district chapelry of
St Paul's Church (which included outlying parts of St Thomas's parish before
St Barnabas Church was built). The cemetery was created because all the other existing Oxford cemeteries were overcrowded after many hundreds of years of burials; two other cemeteries,
Osney Cemetery
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 ...
and
Holywell Cemetery
Holywell Cemetery lies behind St Cross Church, Oxford, St Cross Church in St Cross Road, Oxford, England, south of Holywell Manor on Manor Road, Oxford, Manor Road and north of Longwall Street, in the parish of Holywell, Oxford, Holywell.
Histo ...
, were also opened at the same time, to cater to the other eight Oxford parishes. In 1855, new burials were forbidden in all Oxford churchyards, with burials only to take place in existing vaults. However, this order seems to have been ignored; by 1887 the cemetery was supposedly so full that bones were littered between graves.
The last new grave was dug in 1944, as St Sepulchre's finally stopped accepting new burials in 1945. The gatehouse lodge, which is owned by
Oxford City Council
Oxford City Council is the local authority for the city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Oxford has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974, Oxford has been a non-metropolitan district, wi ...
, was let out to tenants, and the chapel was demolished in 1970.
In 2004, St Sepulchre's was added to the
Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England
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.