The churchyard dispute of 1846

More land was needed to extend the churchyard in the early years of the 19th century and  the Pochin family, who then held the Lordship of the Manor of Bourne Abbots, saw an opportunity to acquire a rich piece of farmland in the South Fen owned by the church.

They therefore offered part of the Abbey Garden adjoining the Abbey House in Church Walk as an extension to the churchyard in exchange but the vicar, the Rev Joseph Dodsworth, recognised this proposed deal as unsatisfactory and on 8th April 1846 issued a pamphlet to members of the Vestry Meeting and to the ratepayers of the town urging them to reject it.

A copy of the pamphlet has survived in which Dodsworth does not mince his words in condemning the proposed deal which was inevitably turned down.

This may also indicate the awareness of property values by Dodsworth, who was known to be an astute businessman, because the Pochin family did eventually acquire the land they wanted in 1849 but on his terms.

The Abbey House had been standing empty for several years and Dodsworth wanted it as the vicarage because he considered Brook Lodge to have been too small, and so he arranged for the church to acquire it, the deal being effected by trading the old vicarage and 40 acres of land in the North Field for the Abbey House, the Abbey Lawn and the piece of land in the South Fen.

Ironically, the only details of this transaction to survive are included in a brief, handwritten account by Dodsworth in the back of the parish registers (Baptisms 1759-1812) where he used several blank pages to record various events during his ministry.

The problem of additional land for burials in the graveyard was subsequently solved by the Burial Act of 1855 which sanctioned burials outside churchyards and four acres of land in South Road were purchased in 1854 by the newly-formed Bourne Burial Board for the establishment of a town cemetery which opened the following year.