St Edmund's Pleasance

'Dirty Dartford, peculiar people, Bury their dead above the steeple.'

As a result of overcrowding at Holy Trinity Church, in the 1690's burials began at St Edmunds Pleasance. Since it is much higher and in fact looks down upon the church, it led to this bizarre rhyme. It was Dartford's main burial ground until 1857.

Originally the location was the site of a chapel built after the death of St Edmund the martyr in 870 AD. It was one of three local chapels mentioned in the Doomsday book of 1086.

In its grounds is the Martyrs' Memorial which commemorates Christopher Wade, a Dartford linen weaver who refused to renounce his protestant faith and was publicly burnt to the stake in July 1555. Margaret Polley who burned in Tunbridge and Nicholas Hall who burned in Rochester are also commemorated. Their deaths were brought about because Mary I (daughter of Henry VIII), made efforts to return England to Catholicism and resurrected laws against heresy. During this time, 280 people were burnt at the stake for their beliefs. She gained the name 'Bloody Mary' because of her persecution of protestants during what was a short reign.

John Hall, a millwright and mechanical engineer who founded J&E Hall of Dartford, is buried here. His other accomplishments include helping to mechanise the paper making industry, developing steam trains and co-founding the first UK canning firm.

Richard Trevithick, an inventor and mining engineer, was also laid to rest in these grounds. He was an early pioneer of the steam engine. In 1804, the world's first locomotive rail hauled journey was that of a Trevithick engine. After working at Hall's of Dartford for about a year, sadly he contracted pneumonia and died in 1833. For a man who achieved so much it was to great shame that he died penniless and was buried in a pauper's grave.

Sources: Wikipedia -John Hall, Richard Trevithick

Dartford Archive- Christopher Wade

History.com- Mary I

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