The British cemetery of Valencia, still open today for burials, is one of the best-kept secrets of the city and shows that Valencia has always had a large population of foreigners dedicated to all kinds of commercial activities, particularly the development of railways and the port of Valencia.
The entrance was designed by the Valencian architect Antonio Martorell Trilles and is dated April 2, 1879. It includes the ornamental facade as well as the coat of arms of the United Kingdom, although without the crown, as a sign of Spanish sovereignty. The gate that leads to the Cemetery itself, and the stained glass entry door, were designed by Valencian artist, Vicente Sancho Fuster, as was the Chapel - all of which were added in 1907.
From the municipal registers, we can ascertain that there was some form of British cemetery in Valencia since the mid-nineteenth century. It was not until 1870 that the current location began to house the cemetery that exists today, a cemetery that holds the remains of British citizens and also of other northern European nations, some 350 in total, from 21 different countries.
It was largely the intervention of British Consul Enrique Dart y Anglin that made the current cemetery a reality. Upon entering through an arch that leads to the quiet interior, there is an inscription dedicated to Dart that says:
Erected by British residents and other friends in Valencia as a token of esteem for his sterling value and many invaluable services as a British vice-consul and personal friend during his thirty-year residency.
The cemetery was established as the last place of rest for expatriates and travellers who, because they were not Catholics, were not authorized to be buried in the consecrated cemeteries of the churches of Valencia.
Many of those buried there were sailors or merchants attracted to the bustling port of the city, while others were engineers who helped develop the local railway system from the French border to Cartagena. There may also be members of the International Brigade of the Spanish Civil War, plus German and Turkish Jews fleeing from the Holocaust, merchants, engineers, ex-consuls and even the founder of the Valencia Tennis Club.
The municipal records of 1851 refer to the insufficiency of the site used to bury British citizens in Valencia, who before the Royal Decree of November 13, 1831, together with non-Catholic citizens of all countries, were thrown into the sea at low tide . However, nine years after the assignment of a site, the councillor of Valencia Cristóbal Pascual y Genis (who has a central street that bears his name now) was still asking for the resolution of the problem, noting that the trade with the United Kingdom was increasing substantially. In more recent times, the number of people buried here has decreased as more and more Spanish cemeteries became non-confessional and cremation more routine.