Exceptional opening of a closed churchyard: St Mary and St Eanswythe Folkestone

The churchyard of St Mary and St Eanswythe, Folkestone, was closed by Order in Council as long ago as in 1857 under the provisions of the Burial Act 1855, with only one exception made for a burial in 1898.

On 6 December a seven-year-old, William Brown, was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver when he was retrieving his football from the road outside his home. A Year Three pupil at the Church primary school, he had walked through the grounds every day and attended services at the church. His parents wanted to bury him in the churchyard, but although the Vicar of St Mary and St Eanswythe, the Revd John Walker, was willing to conduct the burial service, because the churchyard had been closed they needed an exceptional Order from the Privy Council for it to happen. Continue reading