Colchester Cemetery and Crematorium lies on a 67-acre tract of land on the Mersea Road on the south side of Colchester. Due to its location on Mersea Road, it is often referred to as the Mersea Road Cemetery. In the 1850s, a series of burial acts changed the way towns and cities buried their loved ones, and churchyard burial grounds were ordered to be closed. In 1854, Colchester formed a burial board with representatives from the town's parishes, to find a suitable site for a new cemetery. The location needed to be at least 12 to 20 acres, next to a public road and within two miles of the ancient obelisk that stood in the high street. The land of George Tettrell of Plum Hall was selected, with soil most suitable for burying. Advertisements were placed for landscape gardeners to submit designs and estimates for the laying out, embellishing and planting of the new burial ground and architects were sought to submit designs, plans and drawings for the building of two cemetery chapels, a receptacle house, a lodge and an entrance gate with fencing. Benjamin Cant of the well known Colchester Rose growing family won the landscaping tender, and Messrs Edward and Law of Stoke Newington and Messrs Colls and Company were chose as architects. With the closing of the churchyard burial grounds looming on May 1, 1855, building work began in early 1855. After two delays, an opening date of May 1, 1856 was set. On April 25, 1856 the Bishop of Rochester consecrated the grounds. On May 2, 1856, Thomas Bolton, a cordwainer who had died on April 27, was interred—the first burial in the new Victorian garden of rest. Since 1856, over 64,000 burials have taken place.

Sources: Colchester historian Sharon Mooney: 'Colchester's burial place has story worth telling', 5th August 2021; Burials in Colchester Cemetery and Crematorium, Cemetery and Crematorium maps as of 15 Feb 2024.