The bodies of the departed were carried from church to cemetery by a coach or cart and from the gate to the graveside by the parish bier. Few have survived and it is only by chance that the Bourne bier has been preserved. It dates back to Victorian times, almost certainly from the mid-19th century when the cemetery was opened, and is made of cast iron and wood but was in a poor state when the staff found it abandoned in a quiet corner of the grounds in 2004 and recognised its previous use. They rescued it and carried out some restoration before giving it a place of prominence at the entrance to the cemetery where it is now used for floral displays during the summer months.

The memorial rose garden with the Ostler memorial beyond.

As the number of burials increased, further land was added in 1904 and these memorial stones commemorate interments towards the end of the old cemetery which was extended again in 1999 beyond the hedge.

The cemetery chapel in August 2010 after volunteers from Bourne Preservation Trust had begun clearing debris and undergrowth from around the building, revealing the south wall for the first time in decades.

Wooden seats in memory of those who have died have become a feature of the cemetery in recent years with engraved brass name plates on the back rail but there are now so many lining the main paths that Bourne Town Council has called a temporary halt on permitting any more until a permanent policy on future installations has been decided.

Three views of the cemetery from the main road into Bourne.

Extensive work on maintaining the trees and shrubs in the cemetery was carried out in February 2013 following a detailed survey by a tree surgeon who inspected all specimens that were not included in the regular maintenance regime. Many trees came from saplings that had not been spotted and pulled out, trimmed or cared for, and over the years had become either a nuisance, unsightly, detracted from the general ambiance of the cemetery or were encroaching on graves. Some had also become a safety hazard with too many dead branches or were too close to walls or other permanent features. "The council decided that it was better to have fewer but nicer specimens that could be properly maintained", explained Mrs Nelly Jacobs, clerk to the town council.

Amid the dead from this town springs new life as snowdrops colonise the ground around their last resting place. Patches of them can be found around the town cemetery in South Road, Bourne, where conditions are conducive to their growth and so they soon spread beneath the trees and between graves. Here, large numbers have taken over on the plot occupied by James Pacey of Cawthorpe, whose tombstone tells us that he died on 7th April 1903, aged 77, and his beloved wife Matilda, who had predeceased him, passed away on 23rd August 1898, aged 71. Both are now long forgotten and the delicate flowers that bloom over their remains will also soon be gone, a reminder of the fragile hold we all have on life.

After six years of negotiations, Bourne Preservation Trust has still not been given the key of the door to enable restoration begin and as a result, the Victoria chapel continues to deteriorate.