Trafalgar Cemetery
Panoramic view of the Trafalgar Cemetery
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| Established | 1798 |
| Location | Southport Ditch, Trafalgar Road |
| Country | Gibraltar |
| Coordinates | 36°08′05″N 5°21′08″W / 36.134747°N 5.352273°W |
| Owned by | Government of Gibraltar |
| Find a Grave | Trafalgar Cemetery |
The Trafalgar Cemetery is a cemetery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Formerly known as the Southport Ditch Cemetery, it occupies a small area of land just to the south of the city walls, in what had been a defensive ditch during the period of Spanish rule of Gibraltar. Although it is named for the Battle of Trafalgar of 21 October 1805, only two victims of the battle are buried there. The remainder of the interments are mostly of those killed in other sea battles or casualties of the yellow fever epidemics that swept Gibraltar between 1804 and 1814. In addition, tombstones were transferred to the Trafalgar Cemetery from St. Jago's Cemetery and Alameda Gardens.
The cemetery is no longer used for burials and was abandoned for many years, but was restored in the 1980s. In 1992, a memorial to the Battle of Trafalgar was erected in the cemetery. The graveyard is the site of an annual commemorative ceremony on Trafalgar Day, the Sunday nearest to the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Trafalgar Cemetery is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.
The Trafalgar Cemetery is in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is a triangular parcel of land whose boundaries are formed by the Charles V Wall to the north, Prince Edward's Road to the east, and Trafalgar Road to the southwest.Prince Edward's Gate is at the northeast corner of the cemetery; the Southport Gates are at the northwest corner.
The cemetery is just outside the old city walls, in a section of the Southport Ditch, part of the southern defences of the city. The Southport Ditch was a large trench which extended on the south side of Charles V Wall from the South Bastion to the Flat Bastion. It was depicted in a 1627 map of Gibraltar by Spanish engineer Luis Bravo de Acuña. On the map held by the British Museum, it is labeled in Spanish as Fosso (English: Ditch).
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