Major restoration planned at 'hidden gem' memorial gardens

Buckinghamshire Council is looking to do significant work on a ‘hidden gem’ in South Bucks – a grade I listed memorial garden of significant historical significance.

Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens is a 22-acre site renowned for its historical, cultural, and horticultural significance.

Designed by renowned landscape architect Edward White in the 1930s, the gardens were designed as a Garden of Remembrance for the interment of cremation ashes.

It features 500 gated family gardens, each individually designed by White for interment of ashes.

The site was acquired by Sir Noel Mobbs to preserve the setting of the nearby St Giles’ Church, which inspired Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ (1750).

Today there are more than 3,600 individual plots and the ashes of more than 10,000 individuals are interred within the garden, each ‘meticulously’ recorded.

Local government took ownership of the gardens in 1971, and a ringfenced reserve fund was established for its upkeep.

‘Significant restoration’ took place between 2001 and 2004, and there have also been ‘several significant projects’ in the past five years.

This includes a two-phase £220,000 extension completed in 2023, which involved the repurposing of the burial marker stone for ‘Old George’, a distinguished war horse.

Dated 1841, this marker stone now serves as a feature of a public bench. National records indicate that war horse burials are rare in the UK.

There is also the Covid Memorial Garden, completed in 2024, which hosts the National Covid Day of Reflection.

A building refurbishment is also in the works, including the small museum, planned to be completed in 2027 (estimated cost £450,000).

One plan for the building work is to ‘open up’ museum, which is set in an adapted cottage, so that artefacts and pictures are ‘more on display’.

Changes, such as an accessible toilet, are hoped to make the space better for events, bringing in more money to sustain the site.

Also planned are works on the colonnade (£64,000) – the ‘focal point’ of the gardens, with plants and water features.

Over the past two decades, limited investment has resulted in deterioration of the water channels.

These large projects can’t be funded by the reserve; thus, the council plans to look for external funding sources.

Its aim is to broaden the appeal of the gardens. In the past three years, two new trails have been added, including the Bereavement Trail, designed to help people heal from loss.

At a Growth, Infrastructure & Housing Select Committee, councillors asked about the ‘huge amount of money’ proposed to be spent, and the need for these works to therefore really serve the community.

Many councillors expressed a desire for Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens to contain a Holocaust memorial, which Bucks council officers said was a possibility.

Several councillors shared the view this would be the ‘right thing’ for the gardens – somewhere for schools to visit and a chance to make sure the Holocaust does not ‘slide out of history.’

Linda Francis, head of crematoria and cemeteries, said she wanted to build publicity and forge a ‘link’ between the memorial gardens and crematoriums in the area to make people more aware of this ‘hidden gem’.

Cllr Jonathan Waters (Lib Dem, Penn, Tylers Green & Loudwater), the committee’s chairman, said: “I think a lot of people haven’t been to this particular site.

“When we have a gem like this, which we’re putting effort into, actually having people see it and appreciate it is something we would love.”