Burial Sites for Brentford People

If you are uncertain where your ancestor was buried then the free FindAGrave website is recommended. It comprises a database of inscriptions and images of gravestones from churchyards and cemeteries submitted by volunteers, searchable by name. Coverage varies from place to place but even if your family graves are not included there are likely to be some photos of the cemetery chapel or a view including the church. Thoughtful volunteers have posted photographs of signage which includes cemetery opening hours and contact details. Hounslow Borough Council advise the address of the deceased is important as 'cemetery authorities regulated against burial of those not residing in their area or paying local tax to them, therefore the person would, in most cases, have been buried in the area [cemetery] where the tax was levied (paid)'.

Ancestry has over 66,000 burial records for South Ealing Cemetery - more details below. As at July 2016 Ancestry also has records for the following Greater London cemeteries in Middlesex: Abney Park Cemetery and Greenford Park Cemetery; Acton Cemetery; Greenford Park Cemetery (more registers); Havelock Norwood Cemetery; Hortus Cemetery; and in Essex: Chingford Mount Cemetery and Queen's Road Cemetery, Walthamstow.

July 2016 was a good month for local burial records, Findmypast also advertised its collection of Middlesex burial records then. Three local churches are included: St Lawrence, New Brentford, and All Saints, Isleworth: in total over 2,300 names.

Summary

Name	Opened	Closed*	Catchment
South Ealing Cemetery	1861		Ealing and Old Brentford
New Brentford Cemetery	1903		New Brentford
St Lawrence's Churchyard	12th century	Early 1900s	New Brentford
St George's Churchyard	1828	Around 1861	Old Brentford
St Mary's Churchyard Ealing	12th century	Around 1909	Ealing and Old Brentford
Boston (Manor) Road Chapel aka Park Chapel	1785	1850	Ealing and Old Brentford
Isleworth Cemetery	1880	Closed	Isleworth including Brentford End
Isleworth All Saints Churchyard			Isleworth including Brentford End
Bunfill Fields Cemetery	1665	1854	Favoured by non-conformists
Hounslow burial grounds	various	various	Includes burial sites further afield

* One grave could be used for a number of burials and when space for new graves ran out there were still some burials using up space in older graves. A check of burial registers for St Mary Ealing, for example, shows burials tailing off around 1909 but a very small number of burials at later dates.

More details of each burial ground follows.

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South Ealing Cemetery

Originally known as 'Ealing and Old Brentford Cemetery'
Address: South Ealing Road
Likely burial place for your Old Brentford ancestor if they died after 1861 (before that the most likely burial place is St George's churchyard. Sandra Graves adds ' I have 2 family graves on the Catholic plots in the South Ealing Cemetry. The Catholic plots are on the left hand side facing the Cenotaph.'

London Borough of Ealing website at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200368/births_deaths_and_marriages/738/cemeteries contains a list of cemeteries in the borough.

Thanks to Lynn Hayter for providing the following info from the Cemetery Office:
"We do carry out searches for the public, but there is a charge of Ł10.00. The reason we charge is because we are not a records office but actually a funeral booking service. People can find us by e-mailing cemeteries@ealing.gov.uk. You will get an automatic reply which tells you how to proceed with a search."

Other info on this site or due to be added: Janet McNamara has provided a number of atmospheric photos and a note of some names from headstones; Lynn Hayter has sent a plan showing the different plot areas (not down to individual graves).

In July 2016 Enid Biddle found her ancestors were recorded on the ancestry website. The source of records is the FindAGrave (link above) and this can be accessed free of charge; it includes a name search and images of some of the gravestones - as at July 2016 1090 records of graves at South Ealing were held. The site also includes some photos of the cemetery.

If you have a subscription to ancestry then you can access over 66,000 burial records for the South Ealing Cemetery:

On the ancestry.co.uk home page From Search menu choose Card Catalogue - as at 2018 the last but one item on the list
In Title enter 'cemetery registers' and click on 'Search' button
One of the matches should be England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers, 1800-2016
To browse the registers, choose from the drop down menus on the right side:
- Country - England
- County - Greater London
- Cemetery - Ealing & Old Brentford
Then select one of the Grave Registers, reference A to M, to browse.
The Grave Registers were completed as each new grave was opened, in date order:
- Register A - first burial 21 Sep 1861
- Register B - 19 Dec 1869
- Register C - 14 Nov 1881
- Register D - 4 April 1893
- Register E - 21 March 1907
- Register F - 23 February 1918
- Register G - 14 June 1926
  and so on up to:
- Register M - 23 February 1976
There is also a later register for 1984-2010 which has been filed with Cemetery Name - South Ealing Cemetery

It is also possible to search for the burial of an individual by name / date; to search just Ealing & Old Brentford Cemetery, enter 'Old Brentford' as a Keyword using the 'Exact' option. It is not always possible to view the results - sometimes a transcription is provided instead. But on other occasions the burial details are shown, including all other burials in the same grave.

The grave register gives the following information - the example is from my own family:

Grave number - 6 A
Situation - G Division co M II Mound division Old Cemetery ['co' - possibly 'consecrated']
If purchased, no. of entry - 3607; in this case rubber stamped 'Perpetuity'
Name of person buried - Joseph Thomas Taylor
Age - 69 years
Date of interment - April 21st 1915
Fees paid - Ł22 15s 0d
No. and folio in register of burials - 2339 / 117I

In this instance details of three other Taylor burials in the same grave are recorded, the last dating from 1930, in each case the last five columns being completed. Thanks to Enid Biddle for pointing out this valuable addition to the ancestry website in July 2016 and for her detailed instructions on how to locate the original grave register. Enid also points out that, armed with the cemetery plan provided by Lynn Hayter, it should now be possible to locate the actual grave when visiting.

New Brentford Cemetery

Address: Sutton Lane, Hounslow (London Borough of Hounslow website includes a map showing cemeteries at http://www.hounslow.info/parks/cemeteries/locations.htm.)
Contact details
Likely burial place for your New Brentford ancestor if they died after 1902 (before that the most likely burial place is St Lawrence's churchyard

The churchyard was extended in 1884 (Q50).

Other info on this site: postcard image from the early 1900s (from Howard Webb)

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St Lawrence's Churchyard

Address: High Street, Brentford
Likely burial place for your New Brentford ancestor if they died before 1903

Other info on this site: photos taken in 2008 include views of the churchyard (Dave Stoneleigh).

Thanks to Lorraine Dicksee for a 3-page document that has a brief modern history of the church and sketch plan of the churchyard (no names of individuals buried here) - download here. The plan is keyed to the inscriptions described next.

In July 2016 Findmypast added gravestone inscriptions from the church and churchyard (Middlesex Monumental Inscriptions 1485-2014 collection). These were from a 1980 survey by a group of volunteers from West Middlesex Family History Society and the Society of Genealogists. A rough plan of where the memorials were located is available from the Findmypast website (subscription required). In all there are over 580 individuals' names from around 205 graves.

St George's Churchyard

Address: 368 High Street, Brentford
Likely burial place for your Old Brentford ancestor if they died between 1828 and 1861, or after 1861 if they had a family grave plot

Original graveyard was sold to Brentford Gas Works (Q51).

Other info on this site: postcard showing church, pre 1908.

St Mary's Churchyard, Ealing

Address: St. Mary's Rd, Ealing, London, W5 5RH
Likely burial place for your Old Brentford ancestor if they died before 1829, or later if they had a family grave plot

'The graveyard at the east of the church (next to Baillies Walk, the path leading to the allotments) has been neglected. St Mary's has initiated a project to redevelop this area. ' (St Mary's website, checked February 2012)

Other info on this site or due to be added: nothing at present

Boston Manor Road Chapel

Address: Boston Manor Road (formerly Boston Road)
Likely burial place for a Baptist ancestor who died between 1785 and 1850

Other info on this site: a fine 19th-century drawing of Park Baptist Chapel.

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Isleworth Cemetery

Address: Park Road Isleworth (London Borough of Hounslow website includes a map showing cemeteries at http://www.hounslow.info/parks/cemeteries/locations.htm.)
Contact details
Likely burial place for your Isleworth or Brentford ancestor if they died after 1880 (before that an Isleworth resident's most likely burial place is All Saints churchyard). Janet McNamara added this burial place to the list and adds ' Edwin Underwood was buried here as were James and Archibald Sim Montgomrey and William Merriman'.

Middlesex Chronicle, 13 June 1914, includes a piece 'Isleworth Cemetery; Its History and Development'; it is rather long-winded, please get in touch if of interest (it does not include names of individuals buried here).

Isleworth All Saints Churchyard

Address: 63 Church Street Isleworth.
Likely burial place for your Isleworth or Brentford End ancestor.
In July 2016 Findmypast added gravestone inscriptions from the church and churchyard (Middlesex Monumental Inscriptions 1485-2014 collection). These were compiled from several sources and a plan showing where the memorials were located is available from the Findmypast website (subscription required). In all there are over 1800 individuals' names from several hundred graves.

Bunfill Fields Cemetery

Address: 38 City Road, London EC1Y 1AU (City of London leaflet guide includes a brief history and directions.
Ann Sleap of Old Brentford was buried here in 1841 and it is possible other Brentford non-conformists may be buried here. Near to Bunhill Fields is a Quaker burial ground: the leaflet includes a map and more details.

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Hounslow burial grounds

Thanks to Claire Noble for passing on information provided by Hounslow Borough Council, May 2018:

'Hounslow has 10 cemeteries and 4 churchyards:

Bedfont Cemetery
Borough Cemetery
Chiswick New Cemetery
Chiswick Old Cemetery
Feltham Cemetery
Hatton Cemetery
Hounslow Cemetery
Isleworth Cemetery
New Brentford Cemetery
St Leonards Churchyard Heston Road Heston
All Saints Churchyard Church Road Isleworth
St Mary's Churchyard, Bedfont
St Nicholas Churchyard Church Street Chiswick'

Staff will undertake searches for a burial: they need the person's full name, death year and last known address. The address is important as
'cemetery authorities regulated against burial of those not residing in their area or paying local tax to them, therefore the person would, in most cases, have been buried in the area [cemetery] where the tax was levied (paid)'.
Hounslow's Cemeteries, churchyards and crematoria page includes a 'Contact Us' link.

Published March 2012; updated November 2020