West Hill Cemetery - Trust Annual Report 1982
A specially formed committee has been studying the problem of gravestone removal mentioned in last year's Report. It was felt that the only hope of preserving the stones in situ lay in proposing an economical alternative to the City Council's present policy. Faced with high and increasing maintenance costs the City Council is gradually removing and either demolishing or propping stones against the perimeter wall, with occasional modern replacements recording only names and dates. The Committee misses, for example, the historical interest that so-and-so was killed while on a tiger hunt, but we are even more concerned at the loss of original Victorian sculpture and genealogical material.
As an alternative to the creation of a bare and, because of its steep slope, rather useless open space, we are to propose a policy of carefully controlled 'neglect', creating something more intimate and interesting with mown paths meandering through long grass to occasional open areas. Apart from the much reduced mowing, maintenance would be confined to the annual removal of unwanted saplings and shrubs.
On the positive side we would also like to sponsor the formation of a Friends of the Cemetery Society which might help with maintenance, or at least the supervision of voluntary labour (of which we have already had offers). As part of the overall policy we hope to obtain permission for some carefully planned tree planting to screen certain less attractive views in order to enhance the superb panorama of hills to the east of Winchester.