St Philips Cemetery

[winter64]

Hi everyone,

I posted some details last year looking for where my relatives including my GG and GGG grandad, who had been buried in St Philips, had been moved to. It was thought they may have been moved to Warsend Cemetery.

Right..... I have been round the houses a bit and tried Archives, Bereavement Services and Sheffield Council but have just received an email from their legal department.

Bereavement Services confirmed that all the remains were taken from St Philips to Abbey Lane cemetery, Section H and placed in a communal grave and no memorials exist. ( I dont know where the headstones went as I recall there being headstones and memorials in that cemetery?)

I then tried the council to see if anyone had made a record of who exactly was moved, my email was referred to their legal team to see if there were any details collected when licences were gained to exhume the remains but the final answer I have just received is that it doesnt seem that any records were made of who was moved. I have asked if they can keep my details just in case anything ever turns up, which I will then of course post on here!

When I replied I said that I understood that this cemetery was subject to a significant amount of grave robbing in the past but that it was very sad that no-one was identified and no records kept.

I hope this info helps anyone who may have been looking for their rels who had been buried in that cemetery.

Karen

[johnm]

Hi Karen, Whilst I have no ancestor buried at St Phillip's cemetery, I share your frustration at the thoughtless action of the council.

My g'grandad & his 2 wives were buried at Burngreave. My Uncle remembers visiting it when he was a lad & remembers where it was. So about 10 years ago we went to see it & found it had gone ! We eventually found that the council had deemed a number of graves to be on a slope which was too steep & had totally removed those graves, but worst of all, had destroyed the headstones ! When you look at the area there is hardly any slope at all so their excuse seems without much foundation. However there can be no excuse for destroying headstones which had been paid for by our family.

Thankfully, I am very grateful to a team of people who had taken the trouble to transcribe all Burngreave headstones some time before ours was destroyed, so at least we know what was written on it.

Best of luck with your quest.

John

[Bayleaf]

I haven't been able to verify this, but I have been told that the headstones from St Philips were sold to stonemasons, and some of them, cut into blocks, can be seen in the retaining wall of the River Porter in Bingham Park. It is certainly true that sections of gravestones are present in the wall, as ornamentation is visible in places. I believe they were also used in the low wall on the path leading down to Forge dam.

[winter64]

Just a quick update, the legal department got back to me again today to say that the Home Office may have some records from when the licences were applied for. So I will try them.

You would think though that the council would have had to have kept a record of their permission to move graves, and specifically whose grave, just in case a relative (like me) came along and asked to see where permission had been granted to move the remains - Bizarre!

Anyroadup, if and when I get a response I will post an update.

Karen

PS - Hi Bayleaf - Im sure we have someones grave as a wall in our gardens. I live in a terrace in Hillsborough and our backyard is set up from the path and the walls holding the garden back look like the sides of monument type graves, although someone told me the stone came from Dykes Hall when it existed, but im not convinced!

Hi everyone,

I posted some details last year looking for where my relatives including my GG and GGG grandad, who had been buried in St Philips, had been moved to. It was thought they may have been moved to Warsend Cemetery.

Right..... I have been round the houses a bit and tried Archives, Bereavement Services and Sheffield Council but have just received an email from their legal department.

Bereavement Services confirmed that all the remains were taken from St Philips to Abbey Lane cemetery, Section H and placed in a communal grave and no memorials exist. ( I dont know where the headstones went as I recall there being headstones and memorials in that cemetery?)

I then tried the council to see if anyone had made a record of who exactly was moved, my email was referred to their legal team to see if there were any details collected when licences were gained to exhume the remains but the final answer I have just received is that it doesnt seem that any records were made of who was moved. I have asked if they can keep my details just in case anything ever turns up, which I will then of course post on here!

When I replied I said that I understood that this cemetery was subject to a significant amount of grave robbing in the past but that it was very sad that no-one was identified and no records kept.

I hope this info helps anyone who may have been looking for their rels who had been buried in that cemetery.

Karen

[Bayleaf]

Hi Karen

I posted an image of the River Porter wall a while ago here. This is where the river passes Ibbotson Dam, the first one in Bingham Park as you walk up the valley. There are others in the wall with ornamentation you can pick out.