Description

CEM 382-Rev_west_flamborough_municipal_cemetery

Other Known Names: Old Township Cemetery, Tunis and Morden Burying Grounds

Street Address:        Highway # 8, at Bullock’s Corners

Location:                  Lot 9, Concession 2, West Flamborough Township

Type of Cemetery: Municipal, Family (Tunis, Morden)

Responsible Agency: Christ Church Anglican Cemetery Board

Status for Burials: Closed for Burials   Plot Plan: None Size:                  Small, 115 monuments

Fencing: Chain link and hedgerow with open section Monument Types:      Flat, upright and column Monuments of: Marble and granite

Date of Opening: 1805

History:

This cemetery was part of the property donated in 1817 by John and Mary Green to the residents of the area for use as a burial ground, making it the oldest municipal cemetery in the City of Hamilton.

The site was in use several years before the official donation of the land took place, with burials recorded as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century. Within the cemetery, but almost certainly not part of John Green’s donation, are two formerly private plots for members of the Tunis and Morden families of the area.

The Tunis plot lies at the north west corner of the cemetery, and contains a number of monuments to the family. The Morden plot sits at the east end of the cemetery, comprising between 20 and 55 interments, representing both members of the family, and allegedly the bodies of former slaves that accompanied the family to Upper Canada in the 1790s.

For many years the cemetery received no burials and often appeared unkempt, with many of the older large markers fallen and damaged. In 1973 the Town of Flamborough assumed responsibility and maintained the cemetery but undertook no repairs to the monuments. In 1999, the Christ Church Anglican Cemetery Board approached the town about assuming ownership of the old cemetery, with the idea it would provide additional burial ground for their congregation. After an archaeological assessment of the old cemetery was completed, ownership was transferred in 2000.