Linwood cemetery tour

Our resident cemetery guru Richard Greenaway (a.k.a The Sexton) will be revealing the fascinating stories behind some of the people buried in Linwood Cemetery with a tour next weekend. Having already investigated the folks buried ‘up the hill’ he will look at some folks who shaped our community.

• Saturday 5 November ‘Meet your neighbours’
  11am – An update on the Trust’s work.
  11.15am – A tour of interesting people which takes you all over Linwood Cemetery pointing out people who were good (or bad) neighbours and nevertheless shaped our community, Christchurch and New Zealand.
  12.30pm – Sausage sizzle and refreshments, or bring your own picnic.
  1pm – Get help finding the location of your ancestors and ask about the work of the Trust.
  Note: This tour covers a long walking distance.
  Meet at the Linwood Cemetery Car Park, Butterfield Ave
  Some chairs will be available to carry on the tour.
  Gold coin donation for the Trust’s operational funds appreciated.

Richard is running this tour on behalf of the Friends of Linwood Cemetery – a great bunch of volunteers who work and advocate on behalf of the Cemetery. They run working bees, identify work needed in the cemetery and plan awareness raising events. Find out more about what they do and how to join them on their informative website.

Over the years we have built up some great online resources about Christchurch and other cemeteries. Our collection of resources about Linwood will give you maps, cemetery tours and a brief history.

It might not be Pere Lachaise but Linwood is a fascinating and tranquil corner of old Christchurch just waiting to be explored.

Read all about it!: 17th and 18th Burney collection is now online

‘The society for the relief of the ruptured poor’ is a pamphlet to be published on the 16th of January 1803, according to the Sunday Monitor. Now I am used to being  ‘broke’  but I have yet to describe myself as ‘ruptured’! Where did I hear about this? I was simply browsing the 17th and 18th Burney collection.

I also found a possible relative called Peter Finnerty, a printer from Dublin who was pilloried and sent to prison for publishing pamphlets advocating Irish Home Rule in 1798. Rupturing and getting pilloried – talk about the bad old days.

The digitisation of  Reverend Charles Burney’s (1757-1817) collection of  newspapers and pamphlets means 200 years of news is now online. Read contemporary accounts on:

•  Slavery and the abolition movement;
•  Advice on medicines for women’s ‘distempers’;
•  Accounts of the voyages to New Zealand and  the Boyd massacre;
• What sermons King George II heard at church on December 30, 1798.

Many other interesting electronic resources can be found in the Source.  Access this from home with your library card number and PIN, or at our open community libraries.