Town councillors demolish part of
the ancient cemetery wall

In February 2006, Bourne Town Council, which administers the cemetery, discussed what to do about the roots of a large sycamore that stood alongside the ancient red brick dividing wall between the old and the new cemeteries because its continued root growth was threatening the stability of the brickwork. Remedial work was necessary as part of the periodic maintenance and as the tree is protected by law, councillors suggested that the wall must be shifted or even removed altogether.

Realignment was costed at £5,000, a hefty bill for such a small authority, and so a working party was appointed to consider the alternatives. This brought the task of councillors dealing with the preservation of our past under particular scrutiny for although a brick wall may not appear to be a high point of our inheritance, it was important when the cemetery was opened 150 years ago and has become a familiar feature since.

Tree Preservation Orders, or TPOs, such as that which referred to the sycamore, are merely a guide to the law and good practice and are not written in stone. They may be rescinded in the same way that they are imposed, in the interests of the public, nature conservation and care for the environment. One of the major factors in deciding whether an individual tree, as opposed to woodland, should be felled is how suitable it is in its present location and whether removal will have an impact on the visual setting of the area. In this case, it is doubtful whether the tree was planted in that spot intentionally because it was bound to cause damage in the long run and so it is almost certainly a self-setter, overlooked by past workmen until it gained sufficient stature to become part of the scene. Yet it was an interloper and therefore proved that the wall was far more important to the appearance of the cemetery than the tree and so it should have been removed and replaced by a sapling in a more appropriate place in the vicinity whereas an ancient feature such as the wall was irreplaceable.

The course of action by the town council was therefore quite clear. A representative from the local planning authority, in this case South Kesteven District Council, should have been invited to make an on the spot investigation and report back and the answer to this problem was obvious at first sight and would not escape even the most inexperienced local government officer. It is within the district council’s power to revoke TPOs and as this is a relatively simple procedure in the scale of bureaucratic endeavour, the removal of the sycamore appears to have been the most sensible course of action in the interests of financial prudence and common sense but the town council’s working party hardly gave it any consideration.

Instead, it recommended that the section of the wall made unsafe by the roots of the tree should be removed and the resulting bricks used to build supporting pillars and then a trellis with climbing plants be erected to fill the gap which would serve the dual purpose of looking attractive and stopping people walking through it.

Councillors totally rejected the obvious answer that as the tree was causing the difficulty it should be cut down. It was a self-setter anyway while the red brick wall is part of the cemetery’s history, dating back to 1855, and should have been protected at all costs as a fine example of Victorian craftsmanship. Perhaps councillors did not think a wall worthy of protection, even one so old, but if a survey of our listed properties were carried out today by English Heritage, the responsible authority, then it would be the subject of a preservation order and to stifle any cries of disbelief, we should remember that when the last assessment was carried out in Bourne during the summer of 1977, the wall and gateposts at No 29 South Street, the former Red Hall gatehouse, were given a Grade II listed status and cannot be demolished no matter how many trees grow up around the base.

It was suggested that councillors were powerless to act because of the TPO but a little research and common sense would have settled the matter rather than resort to a complicated scheme that was neither practical nor visually acceptable and at the same time saved councillors from further public censure and even ridicule.

Common sense however, did not prevail, and in October that year the deed was done. Quietly, and without any public announcement, the town council commissioned workmen to pull down a 30 foot section of the wall and fill the gap with five pieces of garish creosoted wooden trellis. This was vandalism on an official scale, decided on by councillors voting in secret without resort to public opinion on the matter.

This wall has weathered the passing years, and it is mainly in good condition despite frequent incursions by marauding children. The transaction of 1855 was a legal one and demolition of any part of it might even be deemed to be unlawful. As it is, the deed is done and so those town councillors who voted for this section to be demolished should remember that the action they have taken in destroying part of our heritage will not be forgotten.

WRITTEN OCTOBER 2006

Return to The town cemetery