Within the Wembdon Road Cemetery are eight angels. With an additional figure of Jesus carried on the memorial of the Greenslade family, they represent the most ambitious and popular sculpture in the site. Sadly, when we started our work in the cemetery in 2010 seven of the eight angels had been damaged.
The memorial to Charles, Jane and Ernest James Greenslade, showing the crucifixion of Jesus.
The memorial to Ellen Jane Philips, who died in 1871 and was only three years and two months old when she died. The carving depicts a child being borne to heaven on the back of an angel, representing Ellen. This was the only angel in the cemetery to have survived undamaged.
The James Cook memorial is the grandest in the cemetery. It is listed Grade II in recognition of its ambitious classical design and high quality of its construction. In the centre is the winged figure of grief, which was carved by Lewis Smallcorn of Bath in the finest Portland stone. Over time and due to the action of the weather she has sadly lost her nose. At her feet is an additional plaque, which bears two winged angels who are placing a crown on the inscription 'Memory's Tribute to My Dear Husband'. They have each lost their near side arms.
The memorial to the Symons family had been severely vandalised over time and was shattered. The grieving angel, which had once been the centre piece was toppled and smashed into two.
Fortunately in 2013 a member of the public stepped forward to fund her repair. Fine Memorials of Bridgwater managed to pin and mortar her back into position.
When volunteers were tidying near the main gates in 2012 they stumbled upon another angel, among the wreckage of the toppled memorial of Rhoda and Alfred Bell. Some members of the Friends stepped forward to have the memorial repaired, as it could be seen by passersby on the Wembdon Road.
Fine Memorials did the best they could with the surviving pieces, although the tips of her wings could not be found.
Sometime in the 1990s the most popular angel in the site on the Creedy memorial had been laid at an angle, but was in otherwise good condition. Between 2008 and 2010 the angel suffered from vandalism, being lifted and then pushed over breaking her wing and her cross. After the visiting the cemetery the family decided to have the memorial repaired. Before Fine Memorials carried out the work, Alan, the works coordinator, cleaned up its marble. Fine Memorials managed to fix the wing and pin the whole cross back onto its base.
After the visiting the cemetery the family decided to have the memorial repaired. Before Fine Memorials carried out the work, Alan, the works coordinator, cleaned up its marble. Fine Memorials managed to fix the wing and pin the whole cross back onto its base.
The Bowering angel remembers the family who founded Bowering's Animal Feeds, who operate from the Cake Mill on the Docks. The memorial, an angel, had been toppled. Her arm had subsequently broken off, but the Friends were able to preserve it, so that it might be reattached. The base of the memorial was sound, so the cross was pinned and cemented back into place, returning the angel to her former home.
The Davis memorial remembers a family of prosperous cabinet makers and upholsterers. Their memorial was a grand cross with an angel. We discovered the angel during work in the previous year and decided to have this memorial repaired as we had already had all the other angels in the cemetery done in previous years. Sadly the sculpture had been smashed, but Fine Memorial managed to glue this back together and reassemble the whole thing.
