Holbeach Cemetery was established in 1855 by the town's Burial Board at a cost of £5000. It originally consisted of about 6 acres, tastefully laid out and has two neat chapels with a tower and spire in the centre (see PRN 25207). One of the chapels and half the ground was consecrated by the Bishop of Lincoln on 10 November 1855, with the other part of the cemetery and the second chapel being for the use of nonconformists. {1} The chapels, one Church of England and the other nonconformist, are surrounded by a six acre cemetery that would have been strongly influenced in layout and planting by the influential landscape designer James Claudius Loudon. There are some fine examples of elaborate funerary monuments which commemorate some of the area’s leading later 19th and 20th century families and figures. {2} Overcrowded conditions at the original church burial ground within Holbeach prompted increasing calls for a new burial ground to be established within the town. A petition was organised in 1849 by a number of local townspeople, and resulted in an official visit by William Lee, a civil engineer and 'superintending inspector' to report on the situation. Lee's recommendation was that a new site should be purchased and established, with work commencing in 1854 and the burial ground fully opening in 1855. {3} The original area of the cemetery (6 acres) was expanded southwards during the 20th century, as is visible on later Ordnance Survey mapping. {4}