He is destined to wander through the cemetery and watch over the buried souls… forever!
He is destined to wander through the cemetery and watch over the buried souls… forever!
The oldest Protestant cemetery
The English Cemetery (also know as the St. George’s Cemetery) is the oldest Protestant cemetery in Spain. It was established 1831 for the British merchants who lived in the city of Málaga. Before that, they were buried on the sea shore at night, since they were mainly Protestants and could not be buried in the Catholic consecrated ground.
Having witnessed this horrible situation, William Mark, who was the British Consul in 1824, decided to find a piece of unused land in Malaga where the non-Catholic and British population could be buried with dignity. Finally, in 1829, the Malaga authorities granted him a piece of land which was subsequently assigned to the British Government.
Over the years, the cemetery developed and got much bigger. A little temple was built to serve as a chapel and home for the guardian of the cemetery, and later a gatehouse was built to serve as an Information Centre for visitors.
An interest historical site
Conceived as a botanic garden, the English Cemetery is home to many exotic and unusual species of trees and plants, with tombs placed on terraces facing the sea. Also visible is the zone of antique graves, with tombs covered in seashells. Overall, there are gravestones of different sizes and styles such as Gothic, Classic or Celtic, seen all over the beautiful gardens.
Several well-known people are buried in the English Cemetery of Málaga, including the British writer Gerald Brenan and his wife, the American writer Gamel Woolsey, and 60 members of a German Navy Sail Training Ship’s crew, called “Gneisenau”, that sinked in 1880 just outside Malaga. The Málaga population tried their best to rescue the crew and passengers, and a dozen or more died trying to do so.
Nowadays, it is forbidden to bury more people at the cemetery due to lack of space. The last burial was in 1995.
The last guardian
An English legend says, that the last person buried in the cemetery becomes its guardian and has to look after the souls who rest there until a new deceased is buried there and takes over the role. Ironically, the last person buried at the English Cemetery was Mr. Antonio Alcalde, who was the actual guardian of the cemetery when he was alive, like his father and grandfather before him. Since the cemetery is inactive and no further funerals are planned, it seem like he will remain the guardian of the cemetery forever.
Presence of a ghost
It is said that the ghost of Antonio Alcalde has been seen by local residents and visitors, wandering around the gravestones. Some visitors have been touched by unseen hands or have heard voices and footsteps coming from nowhere.
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