Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

A service of Dedication of the new War Memorial in Rectory Lane Cemetery’s Garden of Remembrance was held on Saturday 4 September 2021. This special service was held in conjunction with the Berkhamsted and Tring Branch of the Royal British Legion, and was led by Fr Stuart Owen, Rector of St Peter’s Berkhamsted. Together, the town gathered to inaugurate the memorial, and to dedicate it before God to the memory of those commemorated here.

The ceremony had been delayed for some months by the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, but all involved were pleased that it was possible to hold this event during the Royal British Legion’s Centenary year. The ceremony included a parade by the Berkhamsted Tring & District Branch of the Royal British Legion, led by HM Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Robert Voss, a dedication by Rev Michael Eggleton, RBL Branch Padré, and a ceremonial wreath-laying by local school children.

The new Rectory Lane Cemetery War Memorial has also been added to the Imperial War Museum’s War Memorials Register, a comprehensive national register of over 90,000 UK war memorials and the names of the individuals they commemorate.

The Garden of Remembrance War Memorial was created in 2020, as part of the Rectory Lane Cemetery restoration project. A plaque bears the names of 49 people buried in Rectory Lane Cemetery who died as a result of injuries fighting in the First and Second World Wars. It has three totems bearing the messages ‘Lest we Forget’, ‘Rest in Peace’ and ‘Live in Peace’, and the garden has been planted out with Japanese cherry trees as a symbol of our hope for peace.

Read more about the War Memorial