Bedford's first municipal cemetery was opened in June 1855, on rising farmland to the north of the town known as Foster's Hill. The land was purchased from Mr Whitbread by the borough treasurer James Wyatt, with money raised by selling off Saint John's Hospital next to Saint John's Church. The gatehouse shown in the pictures was designed by Thomas Jobson Jackson in the Gothic Revival Style, with the cemetery office and an entrance arch for hearses. With no more room for burials, the cemetery has become a heritage site with an active friends organisation which preserves  the historic landscape, and promotes the natural history and recreational aspects of the cemetery through walks, exhibitions and other events.  The view in the painting of around 1860 gives an excellent panorama of Bedford and its churches. However,  by the time the photograph of 1890 was taken, the trees in the new park opened in 1888 had obscured some of the view from the Cemetery.