History of the Whitwell Road Cemetery
The cemetery of St Peters is now a Closed graveyard, and all interments are now in the Whitwell Road cemetery.
The stone facade of the cemetery, dedicated to the Lady Willoughby of the time and the people of the parish, was constructed in 1946, from stones brought from Normanton Park. The three gates were given by Olive Joyce Fortescue
To commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2nd June 1953, five seats were erected and nine trees were planted.
The above information is taken from the plaques on the front wall. Among the other commemorative plaques in the cemetery is one for Reginald Wheatley, who was the proprietor of Churchgate Antiques in the village, which contains the line, 'Back in 10 Minutes'! It adds an additional dimension to inscriptions on his nearby grave.
Among the graves is that of George Aquila Peasgood. At first glance the middle name would seem unusual and might be one of those Victorian names that commemorated a mother's or grandmother's surname. But the name doesn't seem to be unusual; not in the Peasgood family at least, since Google finds many current examples.
Peasgood seems to be a Lincolnshire surname and it is surely very probable that the Empingham Peasgoods trace back to Aquila Peasgood, baptised in Greetham in 1737, son of John and Mary. The various forms of the name borne by his descendants (Acquila, Aquila, Aguila) don't seem to be biblical - possibly Spanish in origin? Why was that name chosen?
