During October 2020, guided tours will be available during the Spring Festival as well as during Wellington Heritage Week. The cost is $5 per person, but children 12 & under are free.

For all of these, the meeting place is by the parking area at the end of Kinross Street, the Seddon Memorial entrance to the Bolton Street Cemetery. Tours will last 60-80 minutes. Not suitable for wheelchairs. Sturdy shoes required as some paths are steep, and gravelled areas may be slippery.

Details are as follows:

TIPTOE THROUGH THE TOMBSTONES:

Enjoy Wellington’s Spring Festival with a guided tour of New Zealand’s oldest cemetery, offering a terrific opportunity to explore Wellington’s early history and reveal many colourful stories of pioneers, politicians, and pathos – including rogues and strong women – along the way. Guides will explain some of the symbols used on tombstones in Victorian times. Don’t miss this chance to encounter a fascinating chapter of our past while the Spring bulbs are blooming.

Saturday 3 October, from 4.00pm.

Monday 5 October, from 5.00pm.

(Link to Eventfinda for booking to come shortly.)

GUIDED TOUR OF THE CEMETERY’S BUILT HERITAGE:

This is a special opportunity to learn about Wellington’s first cemetery and the history of early buildings that were once within it. Hear about the historic ‘time ball’ procedure which was used to provide a time service to the town from January 1870 until its site was taken over in 1906 for the tomb of Prime Minister Richard Seddon. Find out about the original mortuary chapel — now replaced by the replica chapel museum. Hear the stories concerning the cottage (now gone) built for the Public Sexton, and the other cottage (pictured), built on Bolton Street for the Anglican Sexton in 1857, which is still in good condition. Our guides will also talk about the disruption caused by the construction of Wellington’s urban motorway in the 1960s.

Monday (LABOUR DAY) 26 Oct, from 2.00pm.

Tuesday 27 October, from 5.00pm.

Book at https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2020/guided-tour-of-bolton-street-cemetery/wellington

Enquiries: katfor17@gmail.com or 021-109-4001