FACTS
| Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) started his career as a gardener's boy, becoming head gardener for the Duke of Devonshire.
He designed large greenhouses at Chatsworth (including one for the Giant Water Lily), and these were used as the basis for his successful design of the Great Exhibition building, the Crystal Palace.
Sir Joseph was a busy man - he was also MP for Coventry in 1854.
In his spare time he set up the Daily News, appointing Charles Dickens as editor.
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 |  | ... you knew that the cemetery was created by a world famous Head Gardener at Chatsworth and who also helped design the 1845 Great Exhibition building - the Crystal Palace - you might think again.
Cemetery was 'gentlemen's park'
Joseph Paxton was responsible for creating wonderful gardens, fountains and greenhouses at Chatsworth House and worked for the Duke of Devonshire for thirty years.
His designs for the Crystal Palace were submitted after 245 previous plans from architects were rejected. His garden-friendly designs got the go ahead.
Before he found fame and a knighthood, in October 1845 Paxton was invited to provide one of the country's first municipal burial grounds and created London Road Cemetery in Coventry.
It was also designed as a 'gentleman's park' for recreational purposes - not something we see today.
Heritage Open Days - Sept 13th/14th
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| |  | The Crystal Palace - Paxton's design was chosen for the Great Exhibition
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It’s 200 years since Paxton's birth and to mark this anniversary, Coventry's Heritage Open Days organisers, CV One are opening the London Road graveyard
as one of this year's sites.
Heritage Open Days is part of a national scheme run by the Civic Trust to open buildings that are not normally open to the public.
Lots of weekend activities
Buildings that normally have an entrance fee are free over the weekend of September 13th-14th. Coventry's organisers have put together the city's biggest programme yet, with a garden
theme, seventeen separate sites and associated children's activities.
There will be free tours of the cemetery over the weekend, conducted by Bereavement Services staff. The starting point for the tours is Paxton Lodge by the main entrance leaving at 10.30am and 1pm each day.
Visitors will have a chance to see the cemetery's two chapels, its variety of historic trees and memorials to many distinguished Coventry families, such as the Herberts, Starleys and Rileys.
| |  | Distinguished Coventry families like the Starleys are buried here
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Over Heritage Weekend there's also a chance to find out how some of the cemetery's inhabitants met their end at Little Park Street Police Station's 'Black Museum'.
The rarely open museum contains macabre exhibits, such as
the death mask of Mary Ball, the last woman hung in the city.
| |  | Have a great day out - at London Road Cemetery
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Other sites open for Heritage Open Days are
- Holy Trinity Church
- Priory Visitors Centre
- Coventry Cathedral
- St.Mary's Guildhall
- Drapers Hall
- Coventry Tourism Centre's Cellar
- Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
- Whitefriars Monastery
- St. John's Church
- Coventry Watchmakers Museum Project
- St. Mary Magdalene Church
- Lunt Roman Fort
- Allesley Walled Garden
- Allesley Hall & Charterhouse
Opening times vary from building to building, a free leaflet giving more information is available from Coventry's Tourist Information Centre -
024 7622 7264 / 7266.
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