St. Mary's Churchyard in Woburn, Bedfordshire

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Get directions Bedford Street
Woburn, Central Bedfordshire Unitary Authority, Bedfordshire MK17 9FJ England

Coordinates: 51.98960, -0.61990
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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Old St. Mary's Church was originally a chapel that eventually became the parish church from around 1635. Many additions and improvements were made throughout the 18th century. The tower, separated from the church, was raised in height by Edward Blore in 1829. William Russell, 8th Duke of Bedford, desired to build a new church in Woburn and the old church was demolished in 1864. (The new present-day parish church is on Park Street, roughly 0.2 miles away. There is no graveyard there.)

The present day building was rebuilt in 1866 alongside the old tower and was to serve as a mortuary chapel. During the rebuild remains of the medieval church were incorporated into it. Inside, there is a marble monument (from the earlier church) to Sir Francis Staunton and wife Elizabeth (d.1630).

This building became Grade II* listed in 1961. The 1960's also marked the start of the decline as the population of Woburn had dropped to 700 where as it had been 2,100 over a century before. Funerals were still held here until 1967 but being able to afford the maintenance of the building was proving too difficult and in the late 1970's the building was deconsecrated. In 1981 the chapel was made redundant and in 1984 was handed over the Woburn Heritage Centre Trust, a small museum run by the Woburn Heritage Trust and remains so today (year 2018).

The graveyard is the one and only burial ground still in use (year 2018) in Woburn and out of 1,300 headstones, 1,160 have legible inscriptions.