St Peter's Parish News
Thursday 1 January 1970
The day the Bishop of Lincoln visited
If you walk up Rectory Lane behind the Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted, you’ll find our old Victorian cemetery. Rectory Lane Cemetery was opened when St Peter’s churchyard was full up, using land donated by the Charlotte Egerton, the Dowager Countess of Bridgewater. Charlotte was the widow of the 7th Earl of Bridgewater and clearly moved in high social circles. The tall foundation stone in the cemetery records the donations from the landed gentry of Victorian Hertfordshire – quite the high-society crowdfunder! The cemetery was ceremonially opened on 11 October 1842 by John Kaye, Lord Bishop of Lincoln. We may imagine that the Lord Bishop may have made part of his 140-mile journey to Berkhamsted on the newly opened railway line. But why travel so far?
Today, the Parish of Great Berkhamsted lies within the Diocese of St Albans, but this is a relatively modern invention. From the time of the Norman Conquest, we were part of the Diocese of Lincoln, a vast territory that stretched from the banks of the Humber to the Thames. It remained so for over 800 years, until 1877, when the St Albans Diocese was created, turning the ancient St Albans Abbey into a Cathedral.
This is why we were visited one cold October day by a Bishop of Lincoln. It is also possibly why we have an image of St Hugo of Lincoln (with his pet swan) in one of our 1880s stained-glass windows.
Learn more about the Bridgewater Foundation Stone on the Rectory Lane Cemetery website:
www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk 
