AROUND 100 metres of wall surrounding the grounds of Salisbury Crematorium could be lowered and replaced with fencing and hedging if plans are approved.

An application has been submitted to Wiltshire Council by PS Architecture on behalf of Salisbury City Council to revamp the boundary of the site, in Barrington Road.

The application said sections of the wall had collapsed, while other parts were under stress due to trees and vegetation putting “pressure on the boundary wall causing it to lean in to the crematorium gardens”.

Root systems of mature trees make rebuilding difficult, it said, while other parts supported by wooden props are a “significant health and safety risk”.

The plans would see around 100m of the wall lowered, with fencing and hedgerow installed as a replacement boundary.

Crowns of trees would also be raised, while the remaining wall would be lowered.

Walls have been damaged over many years at Salisbury Crematorium. Picture: PS Architecture/Wiltshire Council

“The existing wall on the south west boundary is collapsing or has collapsed some time ago,” it said. “The proposal is to terminate the existing boundary wall at the south east corner of the car park, with a brick pier and remove the remainder of the wall to low level.”

It said a “lack of tree/hedge management” along the boundary had “contributed significantly to the collapsing of the existing walls”.

As well as lowering the wall, the application said the following steps would be taken:

• The removal of all the laurels along this section of the boundary, within Edgecombe Memorial Park
• Crown raising all of the trees (yew and lime) to approximately 3m above ground level and reducing lower lateral limbs by approximately 1m-3m
• Planting of a privet hedge along the full section of wall removal (100m)
• Installation of a 1.5m-high green mesh/steel post fence along the full section of wall removal

Design of the garden was commissioned by Salisbury City Council in 1956, and was carried out by renowned landscape architect, Brenda Colvin.

How the proposed fencing could look at Salisbury Crematorium. Picture: PS Architecture/Wiltshire Council

It has been suggested garden designer John Brookes, who worked for Colvin from 1957 to 1960, may also have been involved in the project.

The proposals for Salisbury Crematorium were put on display at the Chelsea Flower Show in 1958 and it was reviewed in the Journal of Landscape Architects that same year.

“Colvin, a supporter of the cremation movement for environmental reasons, expressed her early ideas on landscapes for crematoria in her book Land and Landscapes, published in 1947,” the application said.

“Salisbury Crematorium is believed to be her only crematorium landscape.”