The Mortuary Chapels

 

Vehicular and pedestrian access is from Melrose Road which runs off Burngreave Road at the side of St. Catherine's R. C. Church. 

There is pedestrian access only from Scott Road.

SatNav postcode for Melrose Rd.

S3 9DN  

 

Burngreave Cemetery was opened in the Victorian era in 1861. The local churchyards were rapidly approaching capacity and were becoming a health hazard due to the vile smells and leaking fluids which were polluting the already poor water supplies.

The cemetery is situated in what was then Brightside Bierlow, one of the townships which made up Sheffield. A Burial Board was formed and a total of 27 acres of land belonging to the Duke of Norfolk and Earl Fitzwilliam were bought at a cost of £200 per acre. Architects were appointed to lay out the grounds and build the chapels and other buildings at a further cost of £11,600.

The buildings comprised of two mortuary chapels, on the left, the Church of England Consecrated Chapel linked by an archway supporting the clock-tower and bell-turret, to the mirrored Non-Conformist chapel. At the Melrose Road entrance stood the Superintendent’s House and Cemetery Office and at the other side of the gate was a house for the Sexton.

The Cemetery was officially opened by the Archbishop of York, Charles Thomas Longley, on 16th March 1861.


The first burial was that of five year old Oscar Brooks on 23rd March 1861.



Sheffield City Council took over responsibility for the Cemetery in 1900 and added a further nine acres to the site. This extension included a roadway to Scott Road where a lodge was built, and a small section for Roman Catholic burials. Burngreave Cemetery was a major facility for the City’s burials until the 1960’s, after which no new graves have been created.

Burials are now only conducted for families who already own plots and where the grave still has space. The Cemetery remains a place of reverence for families visiting the graves, while also attracting joggers, dog walkers and those who just want the chance to relax amongst the wildlife and natural habitat while enjoying the magnificent views across the city.






 



 

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Friends of Burngreave Cemetery

Home Page

The 'Friends of Burngreave Chapel & Cemetery' group was set up "to make the cemetery and chapel buildings accessible to everybody and to educate and enlighten visitors into not only its history, but its wildlife, trees and plants, which overlap and interact."

The group is made up entirely of unpaid volunteers who have expertise in various subjects and skills and without whom, the group couldn't function.


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We welcome all visitors and will do our best to help you find your family's grave.



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Chapel open Sundays

April to October from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

November to March from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.

 

 

MAPS & INSCRIPTIONS:                                  

The ‘Maps’ page contains all the section maps for the cemetery which can be downloaded or printed.

A searchable index of inscriptions completed by John W. Cooper with help from members of the Sheffield and District FHS.

BELATED BURIALS:        

 
This page will list all the people who were interred in Burngreave Cemetery a long time after their death and have been identified as coming from Sheffield Medical School. This is an ongoing project.

NEWS:                                  

Check out this page for the latest on what we are doing.


RESIDENTS:                       

This page contains information about the lives of various people who are buried in Burngreave Cemetery. This too, is an ongoing project.


PUBLICATIONS:               

Details of our books etc. and details of how to purchase them.


GUESTBOOK:                    

We welcome your comments.


CONTACT US:                   

If you have a question relating to Burngreave Cemetery or its occupants then please ask here.


LINKS:                                 

Other organisations which may be helpful in your research.

 
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Transcripts of Burials and Purchase Books have now been completed
and can be found at:- 

www.sheffieldindexers.com/BurialIndex.html


Please direct any transcription queries to Dave or Christine below

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Contacts: 

          Christine Steers: burngreavecemetery@gmail.com

          Dave Yates: graveminder1@yahoo.co.uk

 

This is a poem written by Henry Rogers.

 

A few years ago on a photographic course, he found himself wandering, one November day, round the huge derelict Abney Wood cemetery in NE London. He was rather overcome by the extremely photogenic dereliction, so with those epitaphs in mind he wrote a few lines of his own:

 

“What I am, you were... Oh yes, I know!
And what we all become, I know that too.
And what that is, is not the essential you,
Or will be me, when it's my turn to go.
 
Across your stones, brambles and ivy grow,
Tree trunks swell round them, roots are fingering through
Seeking your bones, branches above them strew
Garlands of leaves for autumn winds to blow.

"In sure and certain hope..." Why then the stones?
What stones do you expect still to stand there
On Judgement Day as evidence of worth?

Till trumpets sound, till reassembled bones
Await their turn in hope, or perhaps despair,
Unmarked or splendid, earth lies in the earth.”