Historic cemetery dying a slow death

Kozhikode – Constructed around 300 years ago by British collectorate staff and military personnel camped at the barracks in East Hill, the cemetery attached to the St. Mary’s Anglican Church at Nadakkavu may be one of the most ancient Christian cemeteries in the entire country. However, presently it is now lying in utter neglect.

Neither the church authorities nor the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had shown any interest in maintaining the British East India Company–era cemetery of the Anglican community, keeping in view its historical and archaeological value.

The move to raze it down to construct a parking place for the new parish hall was aborted about two years back only because of the stiff resistance on the part of a large section of the laity and some city–based historians.

The ASI, which had once shown interest in listing the cemetery as a national monument, also backtracked from the project without citing any particular reason. However, the cemetery has found a place in the list of prestigious British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA).

Located between the church and the new parish hall, the cemetery is now reduced to a number of tombstones amidst wild plants and shrubs. With the construction of a spacious new one in West Hill, the ancient burial place became a burden to the church authorities.

The historical importance of the cemetery is that it is the place where the mortal remains of erstwhile Malabar District Collector Henry Valentine Canoly was laid to rest.

Just a brief glance on the tombstones would take you back to 1717–1891 period, in which British military officers frequented the streets of Kozhikode.

Tombs of Fuller B Dowlatshweram, J Davis, C Jollife, Frocett J Deolali, Burke Ja Suakim, Hurlock W Burmah, J Iles, T Green, C B S Stevens and M Campion have their own stories to tell.

Still, a large portion of the existing Anglican community here visit the cemetery on November 2 (All Saints Day), every year, to pay homage to the departed souls.

Historians like M G S Narayanan believe that the conservation of the old cemetery would help understand a lot about the people who worked in the British army and judicial services.

It was the intervention of MGS as chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research and timely intervention of then District Collector T O Sooraj, which had derailed the project of razing down the cemetery for commercial projects.

An action committee of the laity led by Parasad Kurian had also worked in this regard. However, only a long–term strategy to preserve the uniqueness and historical importance of the cemetery can prevent it from certain ruin.