Wardsend Cemetery, Sheffield, Aug 09

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Locksley

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Having a walk around today we managed to find Wardsend Cemetery near Owlerton. It's a fascinating place, as nature is rather quickly reclaiming it. There is a project to restore it however, but nothing appears to have been done yet as the place is so overgrown.

Some more infos:

Wardsend Cemetery has a distinct military influence due to its close proximity to Hillsborough Barracks. The obelisk monument commemorates the soldiers of 6th, 19th, 24th, 33rd, 51st, 55th Regiments of Foot, Victorian Army, who died whilst at Hillsborough Barracks during the period 1866 - 1869.

A separate grave belongs to Lieutenant George Lambert V.C., an Irishman, born in Markethill, County Armagh, in December 1819. A sergeant in the 84th Regiment (York & Lancaster Regiment), he was promoted twice without purchase, and was awarded his Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery during the Indian Mutiny at Oonao in 1857. His death was due to the breaking of a blood vessel on the parade ground of Hillsborough Barracks on February 10th 1860.

There are also memorials to several soldiers who gave their lives during both world wars.
Some of the 240 victims of The Great Sheffield Flood of the night of 11th/12th of March 1864, when the Dale Dyke reservoir at Bradfield, collapsed, were laid to rest in Wardsend Cemetery, including the children of Paymaster Sergeant Foulds, Isabella, aged 5 and John, aged 3, of Hillsborough Barracks, also Mr. Joseph Goddard and his wife Sarah, of Malin Bridge.

Of the 213 bodies which were found, there were 35 which were buried without being identified. In addition to the 240 people who were drowned there were 50 horses, 38 cows, 8 donkeys, 258 pigs, 267 fowls and 72 tame rabbits allegedly lost!!

Other epitaphs of interest are dedications to a number of Bible readers, one a member of the Philadelphian Wesleyan church; the Secretary of Sheffield Angling Association; widows referred to as relicts, and a reference to a 15 year old boy tragically killed at work in a colliery accident.

Wardsend dates back as far as 1161 and was then called wereldesend.(relating to a forest clearing), by 1336 the spelling had been changed to Werlsend and by 1388 it was call Wordesent.
Wardsend House was built on this site in 1477 and stood for 400 years,before being demolished in 1957.

By 1901 there had been some 20,000 interments on the site and the new area was concecrated in 1859 by Archbishop musgrave of York.
It is said to be the only cemetry in the uk with a railway running through it.

It was also frequented by grave robbers,who sold the bodies to the medical school.

The final burial took place in 1977,when the re-internment of remains from a building site close to the Cathedral took place.
It was officialy closed in 1988.

On with the pics...

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Looks like someone had been down there, or something had come from there... muhahahah! Kinda creepy though...

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Funny how on the way back we noticed a load more graves that we hadn't seen on the way there...

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Fantastic place, will definetely be going back for a further explore, there's loads to see. There must be thousands of graves there, it's so cramped you literally coudn't fit any more in.
 
It may be the only cemetery with a railway running through it, but Brookwood Cemetery London was actually served by the specially built London Necropolis Railway.

Quote from:-

The London Necropolis Railway - Last ride to the Brookwood Cemetery.
© Joseph Allen McCullough

In 1854 a new railway service opened in London. It ran only one train a day and its only stop was a cemetery.

In the 1850s the massively crowded city of London began to face a new problem. Its cemeteries were overflowing, and with the outbreak of a major cholera epidemic the problem got even worse. The London government declared that many of its cemeteries were full, and that people would have to be buried elsewhere.

With such a high-demand, it is not surprising that a group of local businessmen came up with an answer. In 1852 they formed The London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company. Their first act was to purchase 2,000 acres of land near Woking, of which 500 acres were initially set aside to form the Brookwood Cemetery. At the time, it was the largest cemetery in the world.

However, the cemetery was located some twenty-five miles from London, so a system had to be instituted to bring the dead and their mourners to the necropolis. To that end, a new railway station was built right next to Waterloo station in London. From this station, which ran one train a day, funeral parties could ride out to Brookwood Cemetery.

The train journey lasted about 30 minutes and made two stops in different areas of the necropolis. The first stop served the area of the cemetery reserved for Anglicans. The second stop was for “non-conformists” or, basically, anyone who wasn’t Anglican.

The stations themselves contained bars and, at least one time, hung signs containing the grim pun “Spirits served here”


Read more: http://georgian-victorian-britain.s...m/the_london_necropolis_railway#ixzz0Oxu2mFMx
 
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What a great find! Looks like you could spend all day there. :mrgreen:
I'd love to find an abandoned cemetary. I came across a Jewish one in Exeter many years ago, and could never find it again, but recently learned that it's since been restored. At least I've found out where it is now, so I'll go and check it out at some point.
Look forward to seeing more pics, Locksley. :)
 
I am glad too see me and Chelle arent the only ones to like mooching old cemetaries..this looks well overgrown.We went to Arnos Vale cem in Bristol and its stunning and very overgrown,but now its got a Lottery grant its being done up.
 

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