Cobden Cemetery, Greymouth, West Coast

Date: 1871 to 1953
Location: 3 Pitt Street, Cobden, West Coast, New Zealand

Profile manager: Clare Pierson

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Entrance Cobden Cemetery

Cobden Cemetery is close to the Cobden beach and the Grey (Mawheranui) River Lagoon. The first recorded burial at Cobden Cemetery, 30 August 1871, in Plot No. 7, was that of infant William H Wisdom who was only 2 months old. Other member of the Wisdom family were buried in Plots 7, 13 and 14. The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Cobden had been appointed by Governor John Henry Lowe, Esq., 12 January 1867. (NZ Gazette 1869).

Grave of William H Wisdom

A total of about thirty four people were buried in the cemetery, twenty of which graves had headstones. The names of members of several well-known Cobden families are lised in early records. These include members of the, Batty, Dickie, Dinan - including a 13 year old boy who drowned in the Grey River, Gillingham, Liddy, Petheridge, Scalmer and Skelton families.

The cemetery was closed for burials after Dan Liddy was interred 15 November 1928 because of the difficulty of digging graves to the required depth in the shingly ground. It was opened again by special request for two burials of women who wanted to be interred with their husbands: Elizabeth Skelton, one of Cobden's earliest residents, buried 5 May 1944 and Elizabeth Emma Batty who died 9 February 1953.

The Cemetery lawn is curently kept mown and the few remaining graves are tidy, though many are broken.

Petherbridge Grave

In June 2023 a group of people from Cobden erected a new gate at the entrance to this historic cemetery and 12 June Archdeacon Timothy Mora and Mayor Tania Gibson planted a memorial pohutakawa tree beside the new gate.

Cobden Cemetery, Greymouth, West Coast

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