Do you support this proposal for a new conservation area? (original) (raw)

Campaigners aiming to give planning protection to an area of Guildford claim they have found the burial site of the founder of western Australia.

The exact location of the remains of Sir James Stirling, who married Ellen Mangles, daughter of former Guildford MP James Mangles, has been widely disputed but is known to be in the vicinity of St John’s Church in Stoke Road.

Residents hope to make the area surrounding the church, its churchyards and part of Joseph’s Road into a conservation area and believe Sir James is buried in the western churchyard opposite the church.

Last year, an application by St John’s to sell the western churchyard to build a new community centre was rejected. If successful, it would have involved the exhumation of thousands of bodies.

There were claims that the remains were under a memorial outside the building and not in the western graveyard, which is on the other side of Stoke Road.

“The location of where Admiral Sir James Stirling, founder and first governor of Western Australia, was buried has been a mystery since 1977 when the smashed remains of his pink granite memorial were found by Australian researcher John Izzard in St John’s’ west churchyard Stoke,” said Donna Collinson, a resident of Joseph’s Road and one of those involved in applying for conservation area status.

“Through analysis of the original St John’s Church burial records by Dr Steve Errington, vice president of the Royal Western Australia Historical Society, and professional Guildford genealogist Rosemary Morgan, we can confidently say the original burial site of Admiral Sir James Stirling and his wife, Ellen, has been found in St John’s’ west churchyard.

“The couple were married at St John’s Church in 1824, minutes’ walk from where they lived at Woodbridge Park in Joseph’s Road.

“The area around St John’s is presently being considered for conservation area status as the core of the ancient village of Stoke next Guildford.

“James Stirling’s official biographer Pamela Statham-Drew, as well as Dr Errington, flew over from Australia last year to participate with the search.”

From founding Western Australia to burial in Guildford:

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The conservation area application site does not include the former fire station, for which a planning application has been submitted for a furniture store to be created on the site .

“Underground physical examination would be necessary to determine whether or not the remains are still there or were illegally ripped up in the mid-1970s’ clearing of the adjacent area for a building plot at 2 Joseph’s Road,” Miss Collinson said.

“The main point is the burial site has been identified.”

She said descendants of James and Ellen Stirling had written to the Western Australia state premier asking to have a memorial installed in the western churchyard.

Miss Collinson thanked Sid Breeden, who lives in Western Australia, adding that "without all his initial work, Stirling would never have been found".

He said: “Now the western churchyard is saved and Stirling’s grave site located, it’s back to the original and primary objective – to get the Western Australia state replacement memorial back on track.

“Without underground investigation, we can’t be sure the bones are still there but it is the original grave site and there is no evidence to suggest removal of any remains from this ‘east of the boundary fence’ area.”

A draft appraisal for the conservation area, which would be labelled Stoke Next Guildford, has been submitted to the borough council.

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