RESTORATION OF SALEM OLD ANGLICAN CEMETERY
Project Report
Restoration Work At Salem Old Anglican Cemetery, Salem - 1. Salem Old Angican Cemetery Is Situated At The Campus And Just Opposite To The C.s.i. Christ Church, Fort, Salem - 1. On The Bretts Road. This Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Is Also Called Salem Old Cemetery Or Salem English Cemetery Is Also Called Salem Were Buried Here. This Cemetery Area Was Demarcated By The British For The Burial Of The Christians Right From The Year When Salem Came Under The Brithish Rule In The Year A.d. 1792 The Very Earliest Existing Monument Is That Of John And Robert - The Two Infant Sons Of Mr. Samuel M. Morris, Assistant Surgeon To The Salem Fort Garrison Dated 8th May And 24th June Anno Domini 1797.
Now, The C.s.i. Christ Church, Fort, Salem - 1. Is The Care-taker And Administrator Of This Place Right From The Year A.d. 1875. To Till Date For Which The Church Gets An Annual Grant Of About Rs.1,200/- Per Year Form The British High Commission At New Delhi The Total Area Of The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Under Survey No.1 Is One Acre And 12267 Sft Presently This Cemetery Contains 131 Existing Tombs Made Up Tof Either Masonry Or Granite Structures. But, Most Of Them Are In A Dilapidated Conditions.
After The Successful Completion Of The First Project Of Our Salem Historical Cocielty Under Bacsa’s Help At Sankari Durg British Garrison Cemetery At Sankaridurg (sankagiri), Salem District. We Have Decided To Restore Some Of The Much Crumbling Tombs At Our Salem Old Anglican Cemetery At Salem. We Have Identified Some 40 Highly Dilapidated Tombs For Repair And Restoration. We Have Roughly Estimated The Cost Of Restoration To Rs. 56,800/- (around 750 Pounds) But, Bacsa Approved A Grant Of 500 Around Rs. 40,000/- For This Work.
On February 13th (13-2-2009) We Went To The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Along With The Civil Engineer Mr. T. Oseph Dhanaraj, With Us The Presbyter Rev. Jacob Ravikumar Of Christ Church, Fort, Salem Also Came We Took Photos Of All The 40 Identified Tombs And Asked The Civel Engineer To Give His Quotation For Restoring All The 40 Tombs. On 27th Of February (27-2-2009) The Civel Engineer Sumited His Quotation For Restoration Of 40 Tombs To Rs. 50,000/- We The Board Members Of Our S.h.s. Discussed The Details Of The Quotation. After A Detailed Study We Approved And Accepted The Quotation Given By The Civil Engineer. We Have Also Decided To Use Rs. 10,000/- From Our Savings To Meet Out The Expenses. We Have Already Taken Photos Of The Cemetery Area With The Crumbling Tombs In Different.
After The End Of 11 Days Of Restoration Work Starting From 9th Of Marh (9-3-2009) To 20th Of March Almost 20 Tombs Were Restored On 21st Of March We Gave Rs. 15,000/- To Civel Engineer As A Second Payment. On 21st Of March (21-3-2009) The C.s.i. Christ Church Members And S.h.s. Members Jointly Went Inside The Salem Old Angican Cemetery To See The Restoration Work. Taking This Opportunity To Twist Things The Trespasser With His Lawyer And Friends Lodled A Complaint Against Us Citing The Church Members Came To Attack And Remove The Hutments And Garage The Police Came And Requested Us To Vacate The Place And Asked Us To Inform The Police Whenever We Intent To Go Inside The Cemetery For Restoration Work. After This The Police Refused To Give Permission To Restoration Citting Pending Court Case And Elections In Tamil Nadu State. On 25th Of March I Met With An Accident And Remained Home Bound For More Than Three Months All This Hampered Our Efforts In Continuing Our Restoration Work At Salem Old Anglican Cemetery.
4 Months Passed Without Any Significant Improvement In Restoration Efforts. Mr. Henry Brownrigg Of Bacsa Sent His Request To Salem Colletor, Under Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan - An Influential Member Of Our S.h.s. We Met Collector And Police Officials To Break The Deadlock We Met The Deputy Commissoner Of Police Mr. John Nicholson On 17th Of July 2009 (17-7-2000) He Gave Permission And Go Ahead For Our Restoration Work Inside The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery. On 21st Of July (21-7-2009) We Restarted Our Restoration Work Under Police Protection Thanks To The Efforts Taken By Our Guide And Commander In Chief Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan.
Complete Restoration Of Salem Old Anglican Cemetery
On 21st Of July 2009 When We Restarted The Stalled Restoration Work Inside The Cemetery Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan Of Ywca Our Member Requested Us To Restore And Repair All The Existing Tombs Found Inside The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Immediately On Hearing This Our Member Mr. C.j. Honibald Gave Rs. 10,000/- And Our President Mr. J. Jayasingh Gave Contributed For This Boble Cause.
On Behalf Of Our Salem Historical Society We Like To Thank All Of Them. Firstly, We Thank Mr. Henry Brownrigg Of Bacasa And The British Association For Cemeteries In South Asia (bacsa) London, United Kingdom. Secondly, We Thank All Our Board Members, Members, Church Congregation Members & Well-wishers In Salem And Abroad. Here, I Like To Name Our Friends Who Donated For Tyhis Restoration Work 1. Mrs. C.j. Honibale 2. Mr. J. Jyasingh 3. Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan 4. Mr. J. Barnabas 5. Mrs. D. M. Angeline Sakila 6. Dr. Jonathan Muthunayagam And Aruna Jonathan 7. Mr. Georgec. Paul 8. Dr. Jones Ronald, 9. Mr. P. Giridharan Of Divine Stones London U.k. 10. Mr. I. James Rathinam 11. Mrs. Sharon Anbalaghi 12. Mrs. Dr. C.t. Kiruba & Family 13. Mrs. Mr. Rachel Ravikumar & Family 14. Mrs. Mr. J. Jayaseelan & Nalini Family With Theeir Help We Achieved.
Except Some Granite Tombs And Some Masonry Tombs Which Were In Good Condition All The Other Tombs Numbering To Go Ninety Out Of The 131 Existing Tombs Were Repaired And Restored To Their Original Form. To Give A Good Finish And Protection White Washing Done On All The Repaired And Restored And In Good Condition Masonry Tombs Insde The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery.
Hurdles We Faced
Unlike The Sankaridrug British Garrison Cemetery Project Of Last Year, Here, In Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Restoration Project We Faced Lots Of Hurdle In Our Work. The Trespasser’s Family Posed A Great Hurdle Before Us. We Faced Much Of Money, Muscle And Political Power At This Projects Execution At One Stage The Tres Projects Execution. At One Stage The Tres Passer Threatened Me With Death Threat.
I Lodged A Complaint Against The Persons Living In The Cemetery Area With The Deputy Commissoner Of Police Mr. John Nicholson. He Immeadiately Ordered Them To Be Present Before Him And He Severely Warned Of Dire Consequences If They Any Further Distrupt The Ongoing Restoration Work Inside The Cemete This Made Them Inactive And The Work Went Peacefully To Its Fulfillment.
Epilogue
The Society Spent Rupees 84, 662 For This Restoration Work Including White Wash It Is Really A Wonder That The 131 Existing Memorials Have Been With Standing The Wath Of Nature, Trespass And Vandalim. Some Other Memoril Might Have Been Submerged In The Sanddusts Of Time Of Disappeared Due To Human Actions. In Salem Old Anglican Cemetery No War Dead Found So ‘salem’ As The Name Implies The Celestial City Of Peace ‘shalom’ It Remained A Non Combatant Zone In Its Historic Past From The Year A.d 1768. Here, We Find Many Child Memorials In This Cemetery, When We Read Many Of The Epitaphs On Monuments We Find Many Died In The Midst Of Life Too Young And Most Of Them Of Cholera The Dreadful Disease In Those Times. In Most Cases, Many Died Of Sudden Death The Reasons Unknown Only A Very Few Died Of Natural Old Age.
All Of Them Child, Young, Adult And Old Whose Mrtal Remains Have Been Consigned Here Earth To Earth And Dust To Dust In Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Their Contributions To Salem Have Always Been An Everlasting Historical Importance.
Restoration Work At Salem Old Anglican Cemetery, Salem - 1. Salem Old Angican Cemetery Is Situated At The Campus And Just Opposite To The C.s.i. Christ Church, Fort, Salem - 1. On The Bretts Road. This Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Is Also Called Salem Old Cemetery Or Salem English Cemetery Is Also Called Salem Were Buried Here. This Cemetery Area Was Demarcated By The British For The Burial Of The Christians Right From The Year When Salem Came Under The Brithish Rule In The Year A.d. 1792 The Very Earliest Existing Monument Is That Of John And Robert - The Two Infant Sons Of Mr. Samuel M. Morris, Assistant Surgeon To The Salem Fort Garrison Dated 8th May And 24th June Anno Domini 1797.
Now, The C.s.i. Christ Church, Fort, Salem - 1. Is The Care-taker And Administrator Of This Place Right From The Year A.d. 1875. To Till Date For Which The Church Gets An Annual Grant Of About Rs.1,200/- Per Year Form The British High Commission At New Delhi The Total Area Of The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Under Survey No.1 Is One Acre And 12267 Sft Presently This Cemetery Contains 131 Existing Tombs Made Up Tof Either Masonry Or Granite Structures. But, Most Of Them Are In A Dilapidated Conditions.
After The Successful Completion Of The First Project Of Our Salem Historical Cocielty Under Bacsa’s Help At Sankari Durg British Garrison Cemetery At Sankaridurg (sankagiri), Salem District. We Have Decided To Restore Some Of The Much Crumbling Tombs At Our Salem Old Anglican Cemetery At Salem. We Have Identified Some 40 Highly Dilapidated Tombs For Repair And Restoration. We Have Roughly Estimated The Cost Of Restoration To Rs. 56,800/- (around 750 Pounds) But, Bacsa Approved A Grant Of 500 Around Rs. 40,000/- For This Work.
On February 13th (13-2-2009) We Went To The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Along With The Civil Engineer Mr. T. Oseph Dhanaraj, With Us The Presbyter Rev. Jacob Ravikumar Of Christ Church, Fort, Salem Also Came We Took Photos Of All The 40 Identified Tombs And Asked The Civel Engineer To Give His Quotation For Restoring All The 40 Tombs. On 27th Of February (27-2-2009) The Civel Engineer Sumited His Quotation For Restoration Of 40 Tombs To Rs. 50,000/- We The Board Members Of Our S.h.s. Discussed The Details Of The Quotation. After A Detailed Study We Approved And Accepted The Quotation Given By The Civil Engineer. We Have Also Decided To Use Rs. 10,000/- From Our Savings To Meet Out The Expenses. We Have Already Taken Photos Of The Cemetery Area With The Crumbling Tombs In Different.
After The End Of 11 Days Of Restoration Work Starting From 9th Of Marh (9-3-2009) To 20th Of March Almost 20 Tombs Were Restored On 21st Of March We Gave Rs. 15,000/- To Civel Engineer As A Second Payment. On 21st Of March (21-3-2009) The C.s.i. Christ Church Members And S.h.s. Members Jointly Went Inside The Salem Old Angican Cemetery To See The Restoration Work. Taking This Opportunity To Twist Things The Trespasser With His Lawyer And Friends Lodled A Complaint Against Us Citing The Church Members Came To Attack And Remove The Hutments And Garage The Police Came And Requested Us To Vacate The Place And Asked Us To Inform The Police Whenever We Intent To Go Inside The Cemetery For Restoration Work. After This The Police Refused To Give Permission To Restoration Citting Pending Court Case And Elections In Tamil Nadu State. On 25th Of March I Met With An Accident And Remained Home Bound For More Than Three Months All This Hampered Our Efforts In Continuing Our Restoration Work At Salem Old Anglican Cemetery.
4 Months Passed Without Any Significant Improvement In Restoration Efforts. Mr. Henry Brownrigg Of Bacsa Sent His Request To Salem Colletor, Under Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan - An Influential Member Of Our S.h.s. We Met Collector And Police Officials To Break The Deadlock We Met The Deputy Commissoner Of Police Mr. John Nicholson On 17th Of July 2009 (17-7-2000) He Gave Permission And Go Ahead For Our Restoration Work Inside The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery. On 21st Of July (21-7-2009) We Restarted Our Restoration Work Under Police Protection Thanks To The Efforts Taken By Our Guide And Commander In Chief Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan.
Complete Restoration Of Salem Old Anglican Cemetery
On 21st Of July 2009 When We Restarted The Stalled Restoration Work Inside The Cemetery Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan Of Ywca Our Member Requested Us To Restore And Repair All The Existing Tombs Found Inside The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Immediately On Hearing This Our Member Mr. C.j. Honibald Gave Rs. 10,000/- And Our President Mr. J. Jayasingh Gave Contributed For This Boble Cause.
On Behalf Of Our Salem Historical Society We Like To Thank All Of Them. Firstly, We Thank Mr. Henry Brownrigg Of Bacasa And The British Association For Cemeteries In South Asia (bacsa) London, United Kingdom. Secondly, We Thank All Our Board Members, Members, Church Congregation Members & Well-wishers In Salem And Abroad. Here, I Like To Name Our Friends Who Donated For Tyhis Restoration Work 1. Mrs. C.j. Honibale 2. Mr. J. Jyasingh 3. Mrs. Ruby Thiagarajan 4. Mr. J. Barnabas 5. Mrs. D. M. Angeline Sakila 6. Dr. Jonathan Muthunayagam And Aruna Jonathan 7. Mr. Georgec. Paul 8. Dr. Jones Ronald, 9. Mr. P. Giridharan Of Divine Stones London U.k. 10. Mr. I. James Rathinam 11. Mrs. Sharon Anbalaghi 12. Mrs. Dr. C.t. Kiruba & Family 13. Mrs. Mr. Rachel Ravikumar & Family 14. Mrs. Mr. J. Jayaseelan & Nalini Family With Theeir Help We Achieved.
Except Some Granite Tombs And Some Masonry Tombs Which Were In Good Condition All The Other Tombs Numbering To Go Ninety Out Of The 131 Existing Tombs Were Repaired And Restored To Their Original Form. To Give A Good Finish And Protection White Washing Done On All The Repaired And Restored And In Good Condition Masonry Tombs Insde The Salem Old Anglican Cemetery.
Hurdles We Faced
Unlike The Sankaridrug British Garrison Cemetery Project Of Last Year, Here, In Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Restoration Project We Faced Lots Of Hurdle In Our Work. The Trespasser’s Family Posed A Great Hurdle Before Us. We Faced Much Of Money, Muscle And Political Power At This Projects Execution At One Stage The Tres Projects Execution. At One Stage The Tres Passer Threatened Me With Death Threat.
I Lodged A Complaint Against The Persons Living In The Cemetery Area With The Deputy Commissoner Of Police Mr. John Nicholson. He Immeadiately Ordered Them To Be Present Before Him And He Severely Warned Of Dire Consequences If They Any Further Distrupt The Ongoing Restoration Work Inside The Cemete This Made Them Inactive And The Work Went Peacefully To Its Fulfillment.
Epilogue
The Society Spent Rupees 84, 662 For This Restoration Work Including White Wash It Is Really A Wonder That The 131 Existing Memorials Have Been With Standing The Wath Of Nature, Trespass And Vandalim. Some Other Memoril Might Have Been Submerged In The Sanddusts Of Time Of Disappeared Due To Human Actions. In Salem Old Anglican Cemetery No War Dead Found So ‘salem’ As The Name Implies The Celestial City Of Peace ‘shalom’ It Remained A Non Combatant Zone In Its Historic Past From The Year A.d 1768. Here, We Find Many Child Memorials In This Cemetery, When We Read Many Of The Epitaphs On Monuments We Find Many Died In The Midst Of Life Too Young And Most Of Them Of Cholera The Dreadful Disease In Those Times. In Most Cases, Many Died Of Sudden Death The Reasons Unknown Only A Very Few Died Of Natural Old Age.
All Of Them Child, Young, Adult And Old Whose Mrtal Remains Have Been Consigned Here Earth To Earth And Dust To Dust In Salem Old Anglican Cemetery Their Contributions To Salem Have Always Been An Everlasting Historical Importance.
