Friends of Hastings Cemetery

Ore Cemetery (aka Ore Burial Ground)

Hastings News 6th April 1855

Hastings Borough Council bought a plot of land that was to become Ore Cemetery.  It was an acre and a half of land at Ore and was purchased from the Countess Waldergrave to create Ore Burial Ground (Ore Cemetery) on Winchelsea Road, north of Rock Lane.  This ground was consecrated on 16th December 1855.

Ore Cemetery – 13th March  1909

The unkempt condition of the old Ore Parish Cemetery in Winchelsea Road led to a public meeting in the Church Room, Ore, on 10 March to seek opinion about making it more presentable. No register was kept; accounts prior to 1905 were wanted. The meeting adjourned. The Mail of 20 March said that a committee was appointed for suggestions in improving the condition of Ore Cemetery in the resumed public enquiry on 17 March. The key problem was the lack of funding. It’s only money came from a bequeathment by the Rev Twiss Turner which amounted to about £8 5s annually for maintaining both the cemetery and the old Ore church. This was not nearly enough, as could be seen from the deplorable state of the cemetery. The only possible source of extra funding would be donations from relatives of the deceased, but this was thought most unlikely. The Mail of of 27 March said the inquiry came to an end on 24 March because it was decided that an application be made to the Home Office to close the cemetery, since all the ground was already occupied.

The Mail of 28 August said it was now closed for general public interments, with certain exceptions on order from the Local Government Board.

Hastings Mail, 28th August 1909

ORE CEMETERY CLOSES

The little burial ground situated at the Guestling (Winchelsea) Road and known as Ore Parish Cemetery was to be closed as from 30th August 1909 for general public interments, on the order from the Local Government Board.  "This was due to the outcome of the public meeting and agitation at Ore sometime ago, when reference was made to the very bad condition and state of the cemetery.  Amongst the poorest people of the parish the council did regret this heartfelt unavoidable action, that they had to take, to avoid any plague or disease that good affect the local health.  Now practically all interments will have to be at the Borough Cemetery, where the burial fees etc. were several times larger than they were at the little Ore cemetery".  But the closure was warranted because the ground was now full and many recent burials had taken place on the footpaths, and people were having to walk around the footpath graves trying to find a space for their own burials site, there were certain exceptions for widows, widowers and family graves.  A detail survey of the cemetery grounds found it very badly neglected, in poor condition, lacking care and attention, with most of the graves scarcely distinguishable and a great many of them were occupied by families of rats and other vermin.