Work to extend Corby’s Shire Lodge Cemetery nearly complete

An extension to a Corby cemetery is nearing completion with the existing cemetery boundaries extended to the south-west to create additional burial plots and space for memorial gardens for different faith groups.

Shire Lodge Cemetery in Rockingham Road, owned by North Northamptonshire Council was granted planning permission in 2020 after it was reported that there was only an estimated two years' worth of spaces left.

An area for more than 3,000 additional burial plots has been created with a cremation burial area and a memorial garden.

The move should provide enough space for the next 20 to 25 years, with the site laid out as a lawn cemetery.

North Northamptonshire’s Executive Member for Growth and Regeneration, Coumcillor David Brackenbury, said: “Thank you to residents for their support whilst these necessary works have been carried out at the cemetery. It is thanks to their patience that we have been able to extend the site so that those who have sadly passed have an appropriate resting place, as well as giving their loved ones somewhere peaceful to visit and pay their respects.”

The new extension will look very different to the current cemetery. Roads and paths will be created but the rest of the area will be laid out as a lawn and only when necessary will headstone borders be cut out of the lawn.

Regulations are being developed for the new extension to ensure the area remains as a lawned cemetery to allow for unrestricted access to every grave plot, general appearance, and ease of maintenance.

As such no kerb sets, fencing or any other form of bordering will be allowed outside the headstone border and all tributes and mementoes of any kind must be kept within the headstone border.

Leader of North Northamptonshire Council, Councillor Jason Smithers, said: “The extension to the cemetery grounds was welcome news and I am pleased that work is now coming to completion. Thank you to the contractors who have worked in a respectful manner throughout with as little disruption to users of the cemetery as possible.”

If you have any enquiries, you can contact North Northamptonshire Council’s Project Manager, Dylan Smith on 07498 234 352.