Conservation Plan Addington Cemetery - Christchurch City Libraries

Conservation Plan for Addington Cemetery
with them smells and sounds in contrast to much of the surrounding area. The cemetery
evokes a strong physical sense of age and history, in the patina of the monuments, their
leaning, broken and slumping elements and the mature trees. It also provides an important
space in Addington, although it is distinct from a typical open ‘green’ space, and is in
strong contrast to the built surroundings.
A number of the graves have a degree of artistic and technical merit and have been
influenced
by cemetery trends of the time. Further research is required to determine if
there is any highly original and influential style of memorial at the cemetery. There are no
indications of this from inspections and research carried out to date for this Conservation
Plan.
Addington forms one of a number of historic cemeteries in Christchurch. Its design is
comparable to the Sydenham Cemetery in Christchurch.
Technology
and Craftsmanship Significance
Many of the graves display the skills of craftspeople. This includes cast and wrought‐iron
work and other types of craftsmanship as fine examples of craft processes that reflect social
attitudes to death
and fashion in funerary ornamentation, especially in the late 19 th and
arly 20th e century. The grave memorials represent the technical accomplishment of the
various Christchurch stonemasons, including CWJ Parsons, Mansfields, Stocks and James
Tait. The majority of the headstones are carved from marble or fashioned in highly
polished granite.
As a number of the masonry techniques are no longer widely practised, in a sense the
Addington Cemetery is like a local museum of monumental masonry.
Generally, however,
the
materials and methods used in the cemetery are representative rather than notable, rare
or unique.
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