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Wardsend Cemetery


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Definitely get yourself up there for a walk around - it's not lost any of it's magic !

Safety tip - don't go alone, safe enough place normally, but if cold and/or wet it can be a very dangerous place, very slippy, steep in places, plenty of chances to fall over - my Sister and me visited in February 2005, had a great time, came back covered head to foot in muck. Take a friend/relative, take a mobile; better still, organize a SheffieldHistory walkabout, meet a few folks have a laugh and be safe.

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That's so true - I have to admit I slipped many times during my visit and I'm well balanced and this was on a dry day too

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As a kid we used to call it the jewish graveyard- very un-pc I know but after reading all this stuff that was obviously an urban myth, unless of course you know better?

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Had a walk down Wardsend and someone has shifted or stolen the gate posts,

now these were substantial stone ones and there are signs of a excavator being at work in the area.

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Had a walk down Wardsend and someone has shifted or stolen the gate posts,

now these were substantial stone ones and there are signs of a excavator being at work in the area.

I've never been there, but if the posts were ornamental they may well have been stolen, they'll take anything of value these days, even if it needs a digger. Among losses in recent years have been the gates of Weston Park, lengths of drystone walling, yorkstone slabs form places in the Porter valley, including a stretch of pavement on Common Lane, and a beautiful carved stone cavalry helmet from a grave in the General Cemetery, which was removed very carefully and professionally. Some people can't keep their hands off anything!

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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.

Been going through a backlog of photos...

Grave K125 Wardsend Cemetery

George Lambert VC

Clearly has at some time fallen/been pushed over and broken.

Hugh

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What not to do when building a fence :angry:

grave A426 Wardsend cemetery

The fence (new blue and old red posts) is the boundary with the railway.

Hugh

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What not to do when building a fence :angry:

grave A426 Wardsend cemetery

The fence (new blue and old red posts) is the boundary with the railway.

Hugh

I saw this Hugh, would have taken ten minutes to straighten the stone out of the way :angry:

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Safety tip - don't go alone, safe enough place normally, but if cold and/or wet it can be a very dangerous place, very slippy, steep in places, plenty of chances to fall over - my Sister and me visited in February 2005, had a great time, came back covered head to foot in muck. Take a friend/relative, take a mobile; better still, organize a SheffieldHistory walkabout, meet a few folks have a laugh and be safe.

DON'T GO ALONE !, potentially very unsafe ... Organize a SH meeting, have a walk around, take pictures, enjoy, retire to a Pub !

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Was talking to the Gentleman in the Scrapyard today who kindly let us park in his car park whilst we went for a wander round.

I popped in to say thanks and show him some of the shots we had took and we got talking about the bridge. He told me that the City council intend to replace the bridge at the back end of this year at a cost of £800 000.

He is of the opinion that if they are prepared to spend that amount on a bridge that leads to a scrap yard there must be some plans to do something else on that side of the river.

The amount of flats that have been thrown up in the area is amazing and no doubt they will have an eye on that area for development too!

It might be worth a trip up there before it changes.

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Was talking to the Gentleman in the Scrapyard today who kindly let us park in his car park whilst we went for a wander round.

I popped in to say thanks and show him some of the shots we had took and we got talking about the bridge. He told me that the City council intend to replace the bridge at the back end of this year at a cost of £800 000.

He is of the opinion that if they are prepared to spend that amount on a bridge that leads to a scrap yard there must be some plans to do something else on that side of the river.

The amount of flats that have been thrown up in the area is amazing and no doubt they will have an eye on that area for development too!

It might be worth a trip up there before it changes.

A year ago, I said Club Mill Road was going to be a gonna ... too many traffic lights for a single lane bridge to nowhere... great pictures BTW, Thank You

Difficult to take "long" shots, anyone tried from the top of the hill ????

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So that was you! :)

Maybe you spotted a strange character amongst the gravestones lol

Actually taken as an aid to locating the grave of George LAMBERT V.C.; the gravestone is laid flat in front of the multi-trunk sycamore in the centre of the photo.

Hugh

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Most of the photos I took today were of individual gravestones (building an archive) so not particularly interesting (unless you research the family!).

Not the usual formulaic verse...

Grave K79

The following gravestone was once, I'm sure, in St Philip's Churchyard, and was probably a ledger stone (ie laid flat like all those gravestones in the pictures of the Cathedral).

Grave K5

Hugh

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Most interesting, yes I have relatives there, no, there won't be any photos of their memorials - long gone. Great to see the place being researched/photographed/recorded - the finest of tasks - well done.

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Guest alan_taylor63

I spent half my childhood in the early 70's playing in and around the cemetary, usually alone, and don't ever remember being afraid. It was a place of endless possibilities for exploration and a mysterious sense of being lost to time. I used to imagine i was the only person left in the world and the remains of civilisation had been overgrown by nature. There was also the constant crackle of electricity in the air from the overhead pylons, particularly in wet weather.

I must say on my recent visits it feels very different. Bleak, desolate and criss crossed with motor bike tracks. All the soft grasses i remember laying in have gone leaving stones, thorns and scrubby vegetation. I would not want any children of mine playing up there.

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So that was you! :)

Maybe you spotted a strange character amongst the gravestones lol

Hugh

Hello!!

Yes....that was me...the tall bald one with the stupid huge camera bag.

God, did I struggle with all that kit yesterday.

I have a little bag that will take the camera, lense plus, at a push, the flash but as I wanted to take the tripod I took the big bag which was fine at first but we then went on to the City center and had a wander around the May day market.

I had some right bother walking up and down fargate with that thing.

I know, though, the day I only take the small bag I'll need something out of the other one!

Jason

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Guest ViHan

I have just found this thread via Google while trying to find Wardsend Cemetery.

I find the study of places like these fascinating! and I am loving the pics and texts on here. Thanks very much!

I live just over the 'border' in Rotherham so I am sure I will be visiting Wardsend soon! :)

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I have been up there several times over the last few years and never seen a soul. I spent most of the day there picking blackberries last September, in between trying to find my dear departeds. The state of that place is getting worse, and I am not sure what the "Friends" are doing, I'm glad Hughw found one it's more than I have ever done. I even went as far as to turn up to one of their meetings, only to be standing in the rain for an hour, as apparently they hadn't had any for some time although the website was still showing them I think Hugh right about some of the stones being moved from St Philips, although from what I remember a lot were broken when they did the demolition. Everytime I go up there I fume.

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February 2005 when I was there last, in a poor state then. Sorry to hear "Friends of" are not getting much done. Not easy to repair, easy enough to to cut back and maintain I would have thought.

Give me a date with a months notice and I'll travel the 280 miles round trip to help make a difference with a set of cutters.

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The Friends got a tidy sum from the Landfill Tax Scheme to do what they were supposed to be doing. I saw David Yates once at something or other at the Town Hall a couple of years ago. The Hillsborough Community Development Truat under which the Friends were operating no longer exists, according to the Charity Commission Website no accounts have been submitted from them since 2006,so its difficult to find out what was is going on One thing I am certain about is that something does quite urgently need doing up at Wardsend. The original idea as a green spot in a busy city was always good. Something I was told, when I was busy creating about the state of the place a couple of years ago was that as a closed graveyard, Sheffield City Council has responsibility for maintaining it, however I was told by someone at Church House that the church still had control of the place. At this point I lost the will to live.

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The Friends got a tidy sum from the Landfill Tax Scheme to do what they were supposed to be doing. I saw David Yates once at something or other at the Town Hall a couple of years ago. The Hillsborough Community Development Truat under which the Friends were operating no longer exists, according to the Charity Commission Website no accounts have been submitted from them since 2006,so its difficult to find out what was is going on One thing I am certain about is that something does quite urgently need doing up at Wardsend. The original idea as a green spot in a busy city was always good. Something I was told, when I was busy creating about the state of the place a couple of years ago was that as a closed graveyard, Sheffield City Council has responsibility for maintaining it, however I was told by someone at Church House that the church still had control of the place. At this point I lost the will to live.

Strange goings on at Wardsend Cemetery

June 1862

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Strange going on now too I think

Since I last posted I have had various conversations and now have it confirmed that the Friends are no more. The cemetery is still under the control of the Sheffield Diocese who seem to have completely forgotten about it. I have reminded them and await their response

Chris

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Just read this interesting thread on Wardsend Cemetry. As well as the better known "5 Weirs walk" and the "lower Don valley walk" there is also a walk from Kelham Island, past Neepsend and up the Don valley towards Hillsborough and beyond. On its way it passes Wardsend Cemetry which is quite open and available for anyone interested to wander around and enjoy. My wife and I did just that in 2007.

Carrying on from previous posts I would like to point out and re-emphasise some of the dangers.

There are quite a few unsavoury looking characters wandering about, and "lurkers" that give you the impression that your presence is being watched.

It can be very muddy, slippy and steep in places.

Those overhead power lines are quite scarey, they crackle and make a fair bit of noise.

Finally one that has not been mentioned before, the cemetry is very overgrown and derelict, some of the stones are not in a safe condition and, our visit to the cemetry came to a premature and abrupt end when my wife inadvertently disturbed a group of RATS in the undergrowth between the graves. We wouldn't want anyone visiting to come back with Wohl's disease or Bubonic plague.

Did get the chance to take a few pictures though, some of them looking across the Don towards Hillsborough which is just about visible. The blue looking building of course being SWFC Hillsborough stadium.

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