Sheffield General Cemetery MEGATHREAD (excl. tours)

I walked through the General Cemetary on Sunday and I have to say I'm horrified at what the council has done. Most of the graves have been flattened and the ground has been landscaped.

Have they left all the bodies in there ?

If I had a relative (no mater how long ago they died) buried in there I wouldn't be very happy about their grave been "erased" and a football pitch/dog toilet being built on top of it.

I'm glad they are restoring some of the bigger monuments and imporoving the paths etc, but it seems very dissrespectfull to have wiped-out so many of the poorer graves just to make a park.

My great Grandmother was buried at the General... I grew up not knowing most of my family and consequently, I've spent a lot of time in the Sheffield Archives trying to find out a bit more about various people. I think most of the stones in the General were removed some years back, the archive keeps a record of the inscriptions on all of the removed stones.

I have to agree with you though Nick, I wasn't happy about the headstones being shoved out of the way to make a park out of the area.

where is General Cemetary? Is that near the Concord sports center?

It's in Sheffield, on the hill above Ecclesall Road.

yeah i'd love to see it restored to its former glory. i spoke to the people at the gatehouse, and they said that the large church at the top is being turned into a music school, and the smaller chapel into a concert hall.

although this could be worse...why not a museum??

I just think a huge source of information is being swept away, the graves in there go back 100+ years, not to mention the character of the place.

Highgate cemetery in London is a tourist attraction, they are place people find interesting.

Yes Nick2, it'd be good if they could use these resources to tidy it up, make the stones safe, and generally more accessible for everyone, as you say like Highgate. It's a shame that every piece of "undeveloped" land in S11 or S10 has to be jiggered about with.

Originally posted by Moonfire

A tourist attraction? *furrows brow* - not to be out of touch with everything but surely not!

It is, honest, and it's very interesting.

http://www.touruk.co.uk/london_cemeteries/highgate_cemetery1.htm

It's not spooky or anything, it's quite pleasant.

I hate to say it but if you are buried and you pay for a plot you've only got it for 30 years, after which they can open it and put other people in, remove you and put you elsewhere if necessary for redevelopment, or tarmac over you to build a car park which councils seem particularly fond of doing.

i'm pretty sure most of the clearance of the graves was done a while back - in the 80's ? i saw a presentation recently on the work they were planning at the General Cemetary and it involved more restoration of the old features rather than clearance, i think they were putting back some of the victorian paths and restoring the gatehouse area etc. could it be this they were doing and it just looked like they were still clearing away the graves?

It might be that, I don't walk through there very often, but every time I do there seems to be less graves and more grass.

But where have all the stones gone ?

I would hate to think or them in some reclaimation yard.