St Woolos Cemetery

St Woolos Cemetery is the main cemetery in the city of Newport, Wales situated one mile to the west of the Church in Wales cathedral known by the same name. It contains four chapels, and various ornate memorials dating back to the early Victorian period, and was the first municipally constructed cemetery in England and Wales. It remains in use to this present day as the main cemetery for burials in Newport, and has been used as a filming location for the BBC series, Doctor Who as well as Sherlock.HistoryIn the first half of the nineteenth century, the graveyard immediately outside the Cathedral had become full, but burials continued to take place there in the shallow soil covering the existing graves. This became a public health hazard, and "represented a ghoulish aspect with coffins protruding from the ground, many broken open with the grisly contents spilling out." In 1842, a new cemetery was opened near to the cathedral on Clifton Road, however, this too quickly became full, and new arrangements had to be made.Land was obtained from the Tredegar Estate between Risca Road and Bassaleg Road, and a new cemetery was constructed - the first municipally-constructed cemetery in Britain. The first interment in the new cemetery was that of a sailor named Cooper, and took place on 1 July 1854.The cathedral graveyard continued to be used for new interments until it was finally closed in 1866, though in latter years these had primarily been the additional interments in existing family plots. Other chapels in the town continued to make use of their own graveyards until 1869, by which time they had all closed. From that point forward, all burials in Newport took place in the new cemetery, until a second public cemetery was opened in Christchurch, Newport in 1883.