Flashback: Angel sculpture uncovered at Holy Ghost Cemetery

LAST November, conservation volunteers working in the Old Cemetery at South View (Holy Ghost cemetery), uncovered, from under the brambles, a sculpture of part of an angel – from her neckline to the hem of her garment.

This is not the first time that this object has been uncovered –- she was ‘found’ 11 years ago and left to cover up again. Now, however, it seems a shame that she should go back beneath the brambles.

The angel is part of a sculpture, one of many destroyed in a wave of appalling vandalism.

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Angel sculpture (Image: Contributed)

The Gazette of April 23, 1971, reported that about 170 gravestones had been destroyed in a wave of destruction, starting from Vyne Road and ending at the Chapel Hill end of the cemetery.

The damage probably occurred on the night of Friday, April 16.

Among the destroyed monuments was the sculpture of a little boy, who had been killed when he ran into the road after his ball.

His name was  Ronald Michael Dellafera. He died on 20 September 1930, aged just 5. The monument, which many will remember, was of a little boy beneath the protecting wings of a guardian angel.

It was of white marble, and it was the angel that had reappeared.

The Dellafera family were well-known in the town. In 1894, Francesco Dellafera and his wife, Teresa Trimarco, moved here from Croydon,  part of a large and inter-connected group of Italians many of whom had arrived in London and worked as street musicians.

They were from the same region of Italy south of Naples. They ran a lodging house in Flaxfleld Road.

Their sons anglicised their names, went to Fairfields School and fought in WW1. An antique shop in New Street was run by Antonio (Tony) Dellafera.

So, what is to be done with the angel?  

Unusually, we have a good idea where the head is because in 2007 a grant was obtained to do some repairs in the cemetery.

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Just before the work was carried out,  a ‘head’ was discovered on the other side of the cemetery and close, co-incidentally, to a headless monument of a grieving woman.

However, the mason who put the head onto this stone monument said that it did not belong there, because it was marble.

The Dellafera angel is marble, and her little feet are still in situ on the Dellafera family grave where the child was buried. Other parts of the sculpture were removed.

Might we get the angel back onto her plinth – with her head on as well? Any ideas, please get in touch.

Debbie Reavell

Basingstoke Heritage Society