A Message from The British Cemetery of Valencia
The British Cemetery of Valencia is one of the city’s best kept secrets and one that demonstrates that Valencia has always had a large population of foreigners dedicated to all kinds of commercial activity, particularly the development of Valencia’s railways and port.
In 2015 an international group of residents in Valencia tidyied the cemetery up, and opened it to the general public on November 1st, All Saints’ Day, when people often visit their relatives in graveyards. In 2017 they will be doing the same on 29th October and November 1st.
Project Bonnie is an initiative of the same group started in 2012, dedicated to the memory of one of their friends, Bonnie Hintzpeter , who died of cancer. A part of the cemetery is now named Bonnie Garden in her memory by members of the International Women´s Club and friends who subsequently created a Garden of Remembrance for the internment of ashes in an inner corner of the Cemetery, which remains active and open for the burial of both coffins and ashes of whatever denomination.
Since the mid 19th century, some kind of British cemetery has been known to exist in Valencia from municipal records, although it wasn’t until 1870 that the present site began shaping up to be the cemetery that stands today and contains not only the remains of British citizens, but of other nations also, some 350 in all from 21 different countries.
Among those to be found there are members of the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War, A Turkish-born Greek jew on the run from the Holocaust, merchants, engineers, ex-Consuls and even the founder of Valencia Tennis Club, Alfredo Faulcombridge, who despite the name was British, and who exported oranges to the UK from Valencia.
Municipal records from 1851 refer to the inadequacy of the site being used to bury British citizens in Valencia, who before the Royal Decree of 13th November 1831, along with non-catholic nationals of all countries, were dumped into the sea at low tide.
The first British cemetery was built the same year in Malaga, and among those buried there is Gerald Brenan, the English writer who brought fame to the Alpujarra mountains through his books such as ‘South From Granada’ or ‘The Spanish Labyrinth’.
Nine years after the assignment of a site in Valencia, Valencia Councillor Cristóbal Pascual y Genis (who has a central street named after him where, coincidentally, the British Council had its first site in Valencia) was still calling for the resolution of the problem, while noting that trade with the UK was increasing substantially.
It was largely the intervention of British Vice Consul Enrique Dart y Anglin that made the present day cemetery a reality.
The cemetery today is usually locked, although a nearby florist and a maker of headstones, both situated next door to the cemetery, have keys.
The entrance was designed by architect Antonio Martorell Trilles and bears the date 2nd April 1879. As you enter through an arch that leads to the peaceful interior, there is an inscription dedicated to Dart that reads:
“Erected by the British residents and other friends in Valencia as a token of esteem for his sterling worth and many invaluable services as British Vice Consul and personal friend during his thirty years residence.”
Up to date information can be found here:
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