Description
Rainham Cemetery was opened in 1902, the first burial taking place in that year. There is a small cemetery chapel with a glass screen, railings. Even in the 1920s the surrounding area was entirely undeveloped and the cemetery was surrounded by fields. Upminster Road North, however, is marked as a route on earlier maps.
Practical Information
| Site location | Upminster Road North, Rainham |
|---|---|
| Postcode | RM13 |
| What3Words | ///pits.layers.warns |
| Type of Site | Cemetery |
| Borough | Havering |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | daily April to October 9am - 7pm; November to March 9am - 4pm |
| Public Transport | Rail: Rainham. Bus: 165, 287 |
| Research Updated | 1 February 2007 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Although some sources give the opening date of this cemetery as 1871, maps of the area belie this.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ534826 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | South Essex Crematorium |
| Site Management | South Essex Crematorium |
| Dates | 1902 |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Havering |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
This area remained agricultural land well into the C20th. Spring Cottages are marked on C19th maps with much of the surrounding area, including the future site of Spring Farm Park, shown as fields. It is first marked as a recreation ground on the 1939 OS, following the footprint of the old field to a great extent, while having lost land along the eastern edge. It appears to have been simply laid out, with perimeter trees, few paths and a pavilion. During WWII the land was used for food production but in 1946 it was reinstated as a public park. From 1948 onwards recreational facilities were provided, including tennis courts, a paddling pool and putting green, and a water garden in 1953, apparently much appreciated by elderly visitors.
This area of Rainham was still largely fields in the 1930s when the Federation of Synagogues established its Jewish Cemetery here in 1938, although the routes of both Upminster Road and Launders Lane were marked on earlier maps. The Federation had been set up in 1887, largely at the instigation of Samuel Montagu, wealthy banker, Liberal MP and philanthropist. By 1939 the cemetery was laid out with colonnaded prayer building and hall, approached by a drive from the main entrance on Upminster Road with a further drive from an entrance to the west. The area to the east was the first to be used for burial, laid out in a grid pattern of paths. Even into the C21st part of the land has remained rural in aspect.
Abbey Wood Open Space is an area of grassland and woods, so called for being in the ownership of Barking Abbey in medieval times. There was once a path from the Parsonage continuing by the Ingrebourne River to Abbey Wood, across Berwick Ponds, ending at Abbey Cottages. Reputedly in one of the plague years bodies were brought upriver by barge from Barking Abbey along the Thames to the Abbey lands and dumped in the marshes.