I am very pleased to be able to write for this newsletter which includes contributions from both Dean Road Chapel Ltd and the Friends of Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery. In our last newsletter I reported that we were not successful with our grant aid application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the complete restoration of the Chapel. This was disappointing but we were not to be deterred and since then we have spent a considerable amount of time researching other opportunities for grant aid. This has been successful and we have been offered funding from Stronger Communities and Coast and Vale Community Action.
This will allow us to continue to run Dean Road Chapel Ltd for a further 12 months in order to review the Project and ensure that it offers the best for community engagement and subsequent action. When this is complete it will give us another opportunity to apply for a much larger grant in order to restore the Chapel The Chapel has endured another winter and we were concerned particularly about the condition of the roof. I am very grateful that Scarborough Borough Council has carried out some temporary repairs to the roof to prevent further deterioration. The Autumn Fair last year was a tremendous success and I am sure we are all looking forward to the Spring Fair that will take place on May 5th this year. Further details can be found in this newsletter.
Every time I visit the Cemetery I am always so impressed in the way that is kept so clean and tidy. I know this is due to the care and effort of the Friends, Volunteers and the Community Payback Team, who constantly improve the Cemetery for the benefit of the community as a whole. In closing I would to thank everyone for their continuing support for the Cemetery and the Chapel. Yours Sincerely Paul Espin – Chair, Dean Road Chapel Ltd
THE HISTORY OF DEAN ROAD AND MANOR ROAD CEMETERY
When St Mary’s Churchyard and other burial grounds in Scarborough became overcrowded the Council bought a piece of land known as Chapman’s Field and Dean Road Cemetery was opened with the first interment on 28 July 1857. The Cemetery then expanded into an area in Manor Road in July 1872.
Margaret Jane Thompson
Margaret Jane Thomson was born on June 10th 1888 in Fraserburgh, Scotland. She was the illegitimate daughter of Isabella, a domestic servant. Her birth certificate actually gives her name as “Maggie Jane”.
Margaret Jane like many women in that area became one of the “ herring lassies”, women who followed the herring fleet down the east coast. They arrived in Scarborough each summer and could be seen on the pier gutting and packing the “silver darlings” straight off the boats.
In 1910 Margaret Jane was in Scarborough with the herring girls when she was taken ill and rushed to the hospital where she underwent surgery. Sadly she did not survive. Her death certificate dated 30th September 1910 gives the cause of death as “pelvic peritonitis and intestinal obstruction”
Margaret Jane’s funeral took place on Friday 7th of October 1910. The Mercury reported it stating: “The funeral took place in the New Cemetery ( Manor Road). The hearse left the hospital at 2.30pm followed by many fishermen and Scottish fisher girls in procession. There were a large number of floral tributes” The burial was paid for by a fish buyer in Fraserburgh and a stone was placed to mark the grave the inscription reads……
She was but a fisher girl in a strange land
Stricken with a malady beyond the physicians wand.
Her fellow workers in deep sympathy erected this stone
To mark the spot where she rests alone
Gone but not forgotten
For many years this memorial lay broken in several pieces. Now thanks to the work being done in the cemetery it is upright again and the entire grave area planted with snowdrops. Attempts have been made to find any relatives of Margaret Jane but so far without success.