Ash Cemetery

At a meeting of Ash Vestry held in January 1886 at St Peter's Church in Ash it was decided to look at the possibility of purchasing land near the church as a burial ground for the expanding village. At a further meeting of the Vestry on 29 October 1886 at St Peter's a resolution was passed appointing a Burial Board which was to be composed of seven local residents: The Reverend Albert Octavius Walsh, Rector of St Peter's church in Ash; the Reverend George Moss, Rector of Ash Vale; Lieutenant-Colonel John Bridges Walker of Ash Vale; factory manager James McLaren of Ash Vale; retired grocer John Woollard of Ash Vale; Major-General Frederick Hammersley of Ashe Grange, Ash; and local farmer…

There are 20 burials with the distinctive Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstones, with eleven burials of casualties from World War I and nine from World War II, including two members of Royal Air Force aircrew: Flight Sergeant George William Voice BEM (1906 1945), and Flight Lieutenant Alfred Alexander (1914 1940) who died of his injuries following an accident while flying an Airspeed Oxford. Today, the cemetery covers eight acres while part of the cemetery chapel now houses Ash Museum. The cemetery has had more than 3,000 burials.