New call to spruce up Quaker burial ground (From Thisisdorset)

New call to spruce up Quaker burial ground

12:34pm Monday 31st March 2008 in News By Dan Goater

CALLS have gone out to spruce up what is believed to be a dilapidated Quaker burial ground in Dorchester.

Town crier Alistair Chisholm said that with a little care the area at the corner of Glyde Path Road and Colliton Street could be a quiet spot for reflection.

Some believe the land was originally a burial ground attached to a nearby Quaker meeting house but that it later changed hands.

Mr Chisholm and the secretary of the Friends of Dorchester Borough Gardens, Lorna Low, are both keen to find out who officially owns the land and if volunteers would be allowed to maintain it.

Mr Chisholm said: "It's a lovely, quiet little space for anyone who wants to go and sit there.

"It's just not very nice to see it go to the dogs like this and it has the potential to be a lovely, albeit small, public garden.

"Two to three years ago the area was looking beautifully maintained but it has started looking a little tatty recently, with litter, bottles and cans.

"I did some work there myself but it needs more maintenance than I can give it, possibly from a team of people or someone nearby who could look after it."

A publication entitled The Early History Of Quakers In South Dorset confirms a meeting house was bought in Pease Lane, now Colliton Street, in 1712 for £44 and 8s.

According to the document a painter and plasterer named Clement Read was allowed a free lease' of the building after making repairs to it and subsequently allowed the free use' of a nearby burial ground as an open grass plot.

Mr Chisholm added: "If somebody does own it then they should do something about it."

Lorna Low added: "It's an area that nobody seems to look after any more and could make a nice little meditation corner.

"It would be great to see it tidied up."