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Pendeen Community Cemetery Project

Background Information

Pendeen Village is an isolated rural community in far West Cornwall around 7 miles from Land’s End. The sense of belonging and connection to this wild unspoilt land, and to each other, is incredibly strong here. There is a huge intergenerational community spirit that exists. Residents support one another on many levels – physically, emotionally, spiritually and even financially when they can (and have done so for decades, not just during the recent Covid crisis).

Pendeen Community Cemetery Project

The existing graveyard in Pendeen village (which served not only the village but also several other outlying hamlets) is now completely full. Currently there are no burial places for those wishing to be laid to rest in their community, close to family and friends. Neither the church nor the local authority will take on any extra provision. The Covid pandemic has exacerbated the anxiety of this situation, particularly amongst the elderly residents.

The Pendeen Community Cemetery Project was set up in 2017 as a result of a public meeting to discuss the burial crisis. The aim of the project is to establish a community-run cemetery. This will be open to all (or no) faiths, beliefs and lifestyles without discrimination. All they will need to have is a connection to this area. It will be run entirely as an affordable, non-profit making facility. We believe this to be the first venture of its kind in the whole of the UK (cemeteries are run by faith groups, local authorities or businesses and we have been unable to find one that is run as a not-for-profit venture by a community group).

 

May 2024 – Work Begins on Pioneering Community Project

The Pendeen community is excited to see groundworks commencing on what is believed to be the first community cemetery in the country.

Cemeteries are usually operated by churches, local authorities, or as private businesses, but Pendeen Community Cemetery will operate as a not-for-profit facility and will be run by volunteers from the community under the umbrella of the Lands End Peninsula Community Land Trust (LEPCLT). It will be open to all (or no) faiths, beliefs, and lifestyles without discrimination. Those wishing to be buried here will simply  need to demonstrate a connection to the area.

A public meeting was held in the village in 2017 as fears were growing due to the church graveyard reaching its full capacity, and both the church and the local authority would not take on any new provision. Pendeen residents felt so strongly about the need for a local burial facility that they rallied together and began fund-raising themselves. The generosity of local land owners Terry and Janet Davey boosted the project when they  donated part of a field to LEPCLT for the purpose of creating a new community cemetery.

After years of hard work to gain planning permission, Environment Agency and South West Water approval, and raise enough funds to complete the required groundworks in this World Heritage Site area the LEPCLT and Pendeen residents are now celebrating a successful grant award of £143,000 from the Community Levelling Up Project.

Delia Webb, trustee of the LEPCLT and chair of the Pendeen Community Cemetery Committee commented:

“The sense of belonging, and connection, to this wild unspoilt land and its mining heritage is incredibly strong in Pendeen. Generations of families who have lived, worked and died here, lie buried in the old churchyard. Their relatives and descendants wanted to lie close to them when their time comes, and that’s why we fought so hard to bring this project to fruition. We are incredibly grateful to the CLUP Funders for acknowledging this pioneering project and granting the award.

 

The tender for the groundworks was won by local Penwith contractors CGS and their Commercial Director Luke McFadden commented:

“As a local company, CGS is delighted to be involved in this revolutionary project which is taking place in an area where the company calls home. CGS appreciate the effort that the community and core members have put into getting the cemetery moving forward and believe it truly demonstrates the uniqueness of the community spirit of Pendeen.”

Works have commenced on site at the end of April and are expected to be finished by the end of October this year when the community cemetery will become operational.

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