The cemetery originally came under the management of the Clutton Union Rural Sanitary Authority. This was prior to the introduction of parish councils in 1894. In 1967, a press report on the failed attempt by residents of Bishop Sutton and Stowey to have Clutton rural district council provide a civil cemetery for them, the council’s clerk stated "The Harptree cemetery was a bequest in a will and under the terms of the will the administration was put in the hands of this council.” (Western Daily Press of Mon 16 Jan 1967 p5)
The first burial occurred on 27 Feb 1884. In the burial register are two columns to indicate whether the burial was in the area considered ‘consecrated’ or ‘unconsecrated’. It was only in 1958 that there is the first occurrence of a burial in ‘consecrated’ ground. However, press reports prior to this indicate that for some burials the funeral services were in a local Anglican parish church. There does not seem to a be rigid separation of Anglicans from non-Anglicans as occurs elsewhere.
The cemetery is referred to variously as ‘East & West Harptree Cemetery’, ‘West Harptree Cemetery’ and nowadays simply as ‘Harptree Cemetery’. It is now administered by Bath & North East Somerset Council as one of its two open cemeteries.
The plots are arranged in a grid with the numbering starting in the south-west corner and ending with number 1043 in the north-eastern corner. The rows have about 40 graves per row this reducing at the eastern end. Originally there was a small chapel at the entrance but this was replaced by a lych gate (Somerset Guardian of Fri 14 May 1937 p6). The memorials face eastwards, as is the custom. There is a 21st century southern extension with he grave numbering using a <row-letter><plot-number> scheme. In March 2024, there were 27 memorials here.
The burial register covering the period 1884-2011 is with Bath Record Office. It has 1,039 entries. Unlike standard parish-based records it does not note the abode of the deceased but the place of death and ‘from what parish removed’. The column ‘description of person buried’ contains variable levels of detail, depending on the clerk. For some periods of time it indicates the name of the father or husband but this is rare after the mid-20th century.
Limitations
This cemetery is in the process of being surveyed and the memorials reconciled with the burial register entries. Entries from 2010 are limited to names on memorials.
