had expressed a wish to be buried at Bladon. Accordingly, on 30 January 1965, after his state funeral service at St Paul's Cathedral, London, his body was taken by train to nearby Hanborough railway station and thence to Bladon. There, the private burial took place, conducted by the rector. By contrast with the earlier service, only relatives and close friends were present. In 1977, the body of his wife, Clementine Churchill, was buried with her husband's, in the same tomb. In 1998, Churchill's tombstone had to be replaced because of the large number of visitors over the years having eroded it and its surrounding area. A new stone was dedicated in a ceremony attended by members of the Spencer-Churchill family. However, after only eight years the gravestone had become dirty and partially eroded again. In July 2006 the area of the graveyard containing Churchill's grave was closed to visitors and a cleaning and restoration project restored the gravestone. The churchyard also contains the graves of Sir Winston Churchill's parents Lord Randolph Churchill and Jennie Jerome, his younger brother John, his children Diana, Randolph, Sarah, and Mary, his-son-in-law Christopher Soames, and his grandson Winston Churchill. Sir Winston Churchill's daughter Marigold who died of sepsis of the throat in 1921 and originally buried in Kensal Green Cemetery was re-interred here in 2019 to join the rest of her family. Other Churchill family members buried there include the 10th Duke of Marlborough along with his first wife Alexandra Mary Cadogan and his mother, Consuelo Vanderbilt, a former Duchess of Marlborough through her marriage to the 9th Duke of Marlborough, and their younger son Lord Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill. The churchyard is the subject of the poem 'At Bladon', by Avril Anderson (also known as Mrs Crabtree), which was read on the air as part of the BBC's broadcast of the funeral. References Sources and further reading External links "A church near you" – St Martin's Church, Bladon Bladon Methodist Church Church of England church buildings in Oxfordshire Diocese of Oxford Tourist attractions in Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire District