TG2408 : The Cozens Family monument
taken 3 months ago, near to Norwich, Norfolk, Great Britain
This is 1 of 2 images, with title The Cozens Family monument in this square
The Cozens Family monument
The Cozens were a family of landowners and farmers, with extensive estates in Sprowston and Catton (purchased in 1842) as well as in Buxton in North Norfolk. The Sprowston farmer Jeremiah Cozens lived at "Sprowston Villa". He married Mary Ann Hardy in 1806 and the couple had two sons, William Cozens–Hardy and Jeremiah Cozens.
A case against Jeremiah Cozens Wiley (20 July 1833 - 4 April 1919, also buried here) was taken to the Justices of Norfolk by John Ford, an inspector of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for unlawfully ill-treating and torturing 16 bullocks by dishorning them on October 8th and 15th 1888 on his farm at Little Plumstead. On 18 May 1889, the Lord Chief Justice, in delivering judgment, said that the operation of dishorning was detestably brutal and also unnecessary, except to enable its owner to obtain a pound or two more for the animal on its sale.
The monument for Jeremiah Cozens (d 1849) is a cast iron coffin adorned with lion heads and feet. It was cast by the Dixon Foundry of Norwich and bears the works' signature > Link . Jeremiah Cozens junior was one of the Cozens descended from Peter Cozens, died 1738 of Panxworth, whose ancestors included three other Jeremiahs, the last of St Clement and Sprowston, who is mentioned on the inscription on rear of the plinth, together with his second wife, Mary Ann Hardy. The inscription reads:
Right (main):
Jeremiah Cozens
Of Sprowston in this county
Who died 20 January 1849
Aged 32 years
and of Mary Ann his wife
Who died 28 October 1864
Near this spot are interred
The remains of
Mary, the wife of Joseph Wiley
Of Buxton Lodge in this county
She died September 2nd 1837
Also Catherine daughter of Joseph and Mary Wiley
Died 20 September 1838
aged 11 year
Also Joseph their son, who died
28th February 1839, aged 2 year
Also Joseph Wiley of Sprowston
Who did 30 July 1855 aged 52 years
To the memory of
Cozens Jun
Who died on sixth day to April 1827
Aged 94 years Anne his wife
who died December 1829(?)
Thomas Wiley
Of St Georges Colegate Norwich
Died 13 March 1838 Aged 74 Year
To the beloved memory of
Mary Ann daughter of Jos & Mary Wiley
Who died 17th July 1871
Rosary Road Cemetery, Norwich
The main entrance to this Grade II* listed cemetery is on Rosary Road > Link . A gate provides access for pedestrians only from Telegraph Lane East > Link . The Rosary was the first non-denominational cemetery in the UK and also the earliest garden cemetery in England. It was established in 1819 by Thomas Drummond, a nonconformist minister. Claims according to which the Rosary is predated by the no longer existing Dissenters' cemetery in Rusholme Road, Manchester, are incorrect as indeed the records confirm that the latter was opened in 1821, two years after the Rosary, although the first burial in the Rosary did indeed take place in 1821. On 7 April 1824, the Norfolk Chronicle reports that it was agreed "that the Rosary burial-ground having been duly entered at the office of the Bishop of the Diocese, and therein designated a general burial-ground for the use of persons of all sects and denominations, shall be invested in trustees on behalf of those who may become the holders of shares, to be limited to 500." The area of land comprising the Rosary - situated at the western end of the Thorpe Ridge and falling gently from north to east and south to west, with a more dramatic, terraced cross slope in the southern section descending from the high ground in the south-east towards the chapel - had formerly been in use as a market garden, and presents a broad green open space between the housing areas to the south and the playing fields of the Telegraph Lane schools to the north. The writer Geoffrey Goreham in his book about Thorpe Hamlet (1972) wrote: "In Rosary Cemetery stone monuments straggle up the slope amongst forest trees and waning sunlight casts long shadows of urns, obelisks and crosses on the maze of winding footpaths". The cemetery chapel > Link was constructed in 1879 and is said to be the finest work of architect Edward Boardman > Link .
Tragically, the first interment at the Rosary was Drummond's wife Ann who died in childbirth aged 41 > Link . The cemetery has a number of literary links. The novelist Ralph Hale Mottram, for instance, is buried here in the family plot > Link . He was Lord Mayor of Norwich and also the last chairman of the trustees of the cemetery before it was entrusted to Norwich Corporation in 1956. A number of Norwich School painters > Link are also buried in the Rosary, as are a number of railway employees such as the train driver John Prior and the fireman James Light, both killed in the disastrous 1874 Thorpe rail accident > Link . A great number of interesting gravestones and memorials, such as the cast iron monument of Jeremiah Cozens > Link and made by Thomas Dixon's foundry in Norwich, can be found on the 13 acres (53,000 square metres) of the cemetery. The only mausoleum in the cemetery is that of the eye surgeon Emanuel Cooper > Link .
Norwich Heritage have a record according to which the large crowds of people visiting the Rosary in the summer of 1880 led to the employment of a policeman.
An extension adjacent to the old part (referred to as the lower cemetery) in the north-east and bounded by Telegraph Lane East, was opened in 1924 > Link on land formerly owned by Isaac Bugg Coaks, and at times used as a grazing ground for the Cavalry horses, and Mr Bullard from Riverside used to train his horses there. This new part or upper cemetery was laid out according to the advice received from Captain Sandys-Winsch, the then head of the council parks department and the designer of Eaton Park, Wensum Park, Waterloo Park, and Heigham Park in Norwich. The Rosary came under the control of the Norwich Corporation in 1954 and it is estimated that about 18,500 people have been buried there since 1821.
To anyone interested in symbols and carvings > Link on gravestones and monuments the Rosary offers a rich field of study. The Victorians had a particular preoccupation with death: many houses of the period had a 'coffin corner', a niche cut into the stairwell so that the coffin could make the turn in the flight of stairs, and some houses had a showcase window, where the deceased could lie in state for people to pass by on the street and pay their respects. This preoccupation is also reflected in the art of the period, including the decorative artwork seen on gravestones.
The Rosary also contains 31 Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) graves > Link all made to the same design from Portland stone. The prominent circle at the top of each headstone depicts a national emblem or the regimental badge > Link . Below the badge are the details of the buried serviceman or woman, commonly comprising service number, rank, name, military deocrations, regiment, age and date of death. Due to the practice of non-repatriation of the dead, Commonwealth servicemen and women who died on active service abroad were buried abroad. The majority of those buried in the UK are for this reason those who died either in military hospitals in the UK, in training accidents or in air raids, or those whose bodies had been washed ashore. Special commemorative headstones for individuals who are buried elsewhere also exist (but not in the Rosary). They look the same as the usual CWGC headstones but in addition have a superscription across the top, marking them as commemorating stones rather than headstones situated over an actual grave. Many other war casualties who are buried abroad are commemorated on the gravestones of their relatives, which can be difficult to spot because they do not stand out like the uniform, clean and well-maintained CWGC graves. All the 31 CWGC headstones in the Rosary are situated over actual graves.
A great number of wild flowers, many of these native, can be found growing in the areas of grassland, and more than 130 flowering plants have been recorded. The lower cemetery (which is the older part) is managed as a nature reserve. The Rosary is also host to a great variety of birds, and one of the best locations in Norwich to observe butterflies.
The first OS map (surveyed 1880/83, published 1886) records three OS benchmarks in the cemetery: by the NE corner of the boundary wall (105.5); by the SE corner of the boundary wall (138.8), and on the SE corner of the cemetery lodge by the entrance (60.5). The cemetery also had a well, dating from before 1878. According to the record held at the National Geoscience Data Centre ((161/p9), water was struck at about 30 metres, through layers of brick earth, sand and gravel, and chalk. The well would seem to have been sealed a long time ago. It was situated at TG 2440 0846 (near the north-south path separating Sections F and G).
The year 2019 is a landmark date for the Rosary Cemetery in that it was established 200 years ago in 1819.
For graves of interest and detailed information about the people buried there, be they members of Norwich's thriving Victorian merchant community, leaders of industry, bankers, eminent surgeons, painters, writers, preachers, or ordinary working people - they all have a story to tell - see my article. Link .
© Copyright Evelyn Simak and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Start a discussion on TG2408 Suggest an update to this image Contact the contributor
TG2408, 2554 images (more nearby )
Evelyn Simak (find more nearby)
Monday, 8 April, 2019 (more nearby)
Tuesday, 9 April, 2019
City, Town centre Burial ground, Crematorium
OSGB36: TG 2436 0843 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:37.6339N 1:18.8175E
OSGB36: TG 2437 0843
Southwest (about 225 degrees)
Image Type (about): geograph
· The Rosary Cemetery
Shared Descriptions
· Rosary Road Cemetery, Norwich