Sleaford Cemetery

Sleaford Cemetery is owned and maintained by the Town Council. It is a calm, peaceful area which gives visitors the opportunity for quiet contemplation. The Cemetery is also a haven of nature and wildlife which allows a quietness for reflection and tranquillity.

The main Cemetery gate, which is off Eastgate, is open everyday from 8.00 am until 4.00 pm. There is limited parking at the top of the drive.

There is also a pedestrian gate which is open seven days a week, twenty four hours a day.

There are unfortunately no toilet facilities at the Cemetery. The nearest toilets can be found at The Hub or Money's Yard.

Sleaford Cemetery is situated on Eastgate, the entrance is marked by the original stone pillars and gates, (restored in 2007), and a timber frame cottage that used to be the residence of the Cemetery Superintendent and is now a private house.

All the memorials within the cemetery are privately owned and it is not the responsibility of the Town Council to maintain them. However the Town Council does have the duty to ensure that all the headstones and other memorials are in a safe condition. The owner of most memorials will usually be a relative of the deceased at the time of burial but after a period of time this will probably pass to other family members. All memorials receive a periodic inspection and, as a last resort, may be laid down if found to be unsafe. This protects the public and also the memorial is laid down gently rather than possibly falling uncontrolled and being damaged.

In the summer of 2021, the Mayor of Sleaford at the time together with Sleaford Town Council created a Cemetery historical guide and map. The guide is full of interesting facts and pictures and is available free of charge from Sleaford Town Hall.

The twelve acre Cemetery site is home to almost 300 identified and recorded trees and numerous woody shrubs. The trees are inspected every three years by the local authority tree inspector and remedial works undertaken to ensure their continued health. Specimen trees include several black pines which date from the opening of the Cemetery in 1856. Other trees of note include the Portuguese laurels along the entrance driveway, a Tulip tree and a fine beech tree in the old section of the Cemetery.

Formal flower beds alongside the entrance driveway are planted up with seasonal bedding and perennial plants to present a welcoming scene. The Council is moving away from 'traditional' bedding plants to more pollinator-friendly annual planting schemes. We endeavour to keep the beds looking colourful and attractive, whilst balancing this with a more climate and ecologically supportive planting strategy.

Spring-flowering bulbs are planted in drifts within the grassy areas of the older sections of the burial grounds. We extended the bulb plantings in 2021 and planted English Bluebell to add to the beautiful picture that that bulbs create in the spring time. When the bulbs have finished flowering the plant leaves are left for several weeks in order to replenish the bulb corm; these areas may look 'untidy' for a few weeks whilst the grass is left to grow. We hope that people will appreciate the reasons why we do not mow the grass here for a little while.

The oldest part of the Cemetery is left more informal to provide a habitat for wildlife, insects and wildflowers. The grass here is cut just once a year. We hope that visitors find this area in particular a welcoming haven of quietness, reflection and tranquility.

The Council is proud of the variety and stature of its many trees at the Cemetery. There has been a long-tradition of planting specimen trees at the Cemetery, from the first black pines in 1856 to present day tree acquisitions. In 2021 several new trees were planted after the Mayor of that year raised funds as part of his civic duties. These new trees were planted as part of a replenishment programme and include a ginko, mountain ash and stag's horn.

A guide highlighting specimen trees forms a companion guide to the popular history guide and map of the Cemetery.

Please refer to the list of trees inspected above for the tree identification code which can be found on the maps below.