Graves at former St John's Church in Jurong to be exhumed for Tengah BTO flats

Graves at the former St John's Church at Old Jurong Road will be exhumed, come April 2025.

The 140-year-old church cemetery is slated to make way for residential use, and will give way to developments as part of the Tengah Plantation District, reported the Straits Times on Oct. 9, 2024.

According to The Straits Times, site surveys by the Housing Development Board (HDB) shared that there could be up to 26 graves across the 1-hectare cemetery.

At the time of writing, the site has been closed to members of the public due to ongoing works.

Former Christian Village

The location's history dates back to the 1800s.

One of the oldest parishes in the Anglican diocese, St John's Church formed its roots on humble ground by serving farmers and villagers in the Jurong estate.

According to the Diocese of Singapore, the community was first established in 1872 by Reverend William Gomes of St. Andrew's Mission and Cheok Loi Fatt.

However, it was only in 1884 when a Chinese Christian convert named Hong Seng contributed around three acres of land that the church was built.

Hong Kah Village was thereafter established when parishioners approached church leaders for a place to reside, and the community grew from there on.

Today, the church has since moved to be housed as a chapel within St Margaret's School (Secondary) along Farrer Road, after the land was repossessed by the government in 1990.

The church continues to hold services in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, and Cantonese congregations.

Local blogger Rojak Librarian has also been able to document portions of the cemetery and the tombs within prior to its closure.

Tengah Town: Sustainable and "Smart"

The area will be imbued with new life soon enough.

Plans to reimagine the landscape into the up and coming Tengah Town, the first residential estate to be planned with smart technologies town-wide from its conception, are well underway.

Focusing on green, sustainable features, the "forest town" will feature a car-free town centre and include a 5km-long forest corridor connecting the western and central catchment areas.

Tengah town will comprise of five districts, of which Plantation District will be built on the site of the current cemetery.

With a total area of 90 hectares, Plantation District is expected to house around 10,000 new homes upon completion.

On a whole, another 18,555 Build-to-Order flats across 18 projects in Tengah were further released by HDB in February 2023.

Claiming procedure

Descendants of the deceased can still claim the remains from now to April. 30, 2025.

To proceed with claims, one will need to provide the particulars of both the claimant and deceased.

To further support identification of the tombstones by next-of-kin, HDB has also conducted photographic documentation of the tombstones and their approximate locations.

Those who register for claims can tap on services provided by National Environment Agency (NEA)'s appointed contractor.

NEA will bear the cost of exhumation, cremation, and other services such as a sea burial, inland ash scattering or niche allocation.

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Top image from HDB