Where is Rupert Buxton buried?

[geezjonathan]

Hi there,

I will be visiting England this October and I was wanting to see both Michael and Rupert's tomb. I know that Michael is buried at St. John at Hampstead, London, but I was wondering if anyone knew where Rupert was buried?

[Nicholas]

Rupert is buried in the Buxton family plot behind the church in Upshire, Essex.  The churchyard on Horse Shoe Hill overlooks the large house at Warlies and Woodredon (the smaller house)  is about one mile away on the oher side of the M25.  The last time I was there Rupert's grave was quite overgrown and I had to scrape away some vegetation and mud to indentify it.  If the church is open when you visit, there is a commemorative plaque on the wall.

Upshire is easily reached from Watham Cross or from Epping, but you might want to take the Central Line to Loughton and then walk through Epping Forest to the bottom of Woodredon Hill (where Rupert had his bicycle accident)  and then up the hill to Woodredon House, now a nursing home.  If you continue along the road and across the bridge over the M25 (which of course was not there in the early 1900s) you will come to Upshire and Warlies.

Going there was a very moving experience for me as despite the depredations of recent years and the Buxtons having cleared out of the neighbourhood in the 1970s there is still a very strong feel in the buildings and the countryside of what Rupert's Edwardian home was like.