Flaxton Cemetery, North Canterbury - Photos of all the graves - a cute New Zealand Cemetery

Today I went for a trip to Flaxton Cemetery in North Canterbury.  My great great great grandparents are buried there, Carl Philipp Meng and Elise Katharina Meng nee Ellenberger along with three of their children.  Two of their children are in unmarked graves, twin girls who wouldn't feed and died as infants of malnutrition.  And buried with her father is Elise Mary, a 12 year old who died of pneumonia.  So sad!

Anyway,  I took photos of all the graves today as there are not many.  If you are interested in seeing a photo of your ancestor's grave, please check it out here.

The lighting wasn't great on some graves (afternoon would have been better for photos - a tip everyone - go in the afternoon!)  And some were unreadable.  Louis, 4,  found it quite interesting and even spent a moment sitting by the graves of his 4x great grandparents.  I thought it quite sweet.  He even found a hut up in the trees.

This used to be the site of St Paul's Church, Flaxton on the corner of Flaxton and Hicklands Roads, Flaxton.  This photo shows there were no trees around the church at one point, it being plonked in the middle of fields.  The Toeless family donated land for the church in 1866 for the people of Rangiora and Mandeville Swamp areas.  The church was consecrated on 25 March 1867 by Bishop Harper.  Click here to read about the consecration in the old newspapers.  It served the people until 1875 but because of poor roads and floods communication was often difficult.  Then a decision was made to build at Eyreton as it was drier land.  It was still used until 1920 but then demolished in 1934.

Now the site has the old graves and a lot of different trees which have grown up over the years.

The following article has many names in it of living people who are now buried in this cemetery. Quite sad really to read.  They are now all at rest.