# Forgotten Cemetary - Dec 09 - Sheffield



## cstevens (Dec 12, 2009)

Today I searched out a Forgotten Cemetery that I had heard about, it sickens me that the powers that be have let this sacred resting place fall into such disrepair. Its been there since the 12th centry, and was closed in the 80's and then our "modern" society allows this.....anyway, heres a few images.
































A complete set of images from the day can be seen here
http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/graves/


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## cstevens (Dec 12, 2009)

A bit of history of the site: 

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.


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## Krypton (Dec 12, 2009)

Some very atmospheric shots there 

It saddens me that they would pull down a house that had been standing since 1477!


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## TK421 (Dec 12, 2009)

Excellent set of photos there, I see what seems like an old churchyard from the train, just North of Sheffiled, is this same place?


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## cstevens (Dec 12, 2009)

To see this from the train you would have to look up, so probably not, the entire site is set on a steep hilside (god only knows how they dug graves back in the 12th centry).

Wardsend House was in fact demolised after standing for 400 years - discusting!, I am not sure on the detail of the Chapel that also once stood there, but only the foundations of this are somewhat visable now (I am not sure where though)

Local rumor/legend, says that an American Red Indian was burried there to, he was one of the onterage of Bufflo Bill when he came to Sheffield last century, he apparrantly came down with a fever and died so he was layed to rest in Wardsend.

If you look through my enture set, you will notice a gravestone that's been chiselled in half so that the railway could erect the fencing? Not moved a foot or so, just chiselled in half! Whoever did that should be bloody hung!

There are some really disturbing reports linked with the site, there is a history of grave robbers in the 1860-1880s and a mass grave robbing by the sexton, with links to the owner and the local vicar all implicated in the deeds.

A really detailed report on the body snatching here: 
[url]http://www.chrishobbs.com/agraveaffair1862.htm[/URL]

And another here:
[ame="http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=112252"]http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=112252[/ame]


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## night crawler (Dec 12, 2009)

Some excellent photo's there but the best are on your site. See what you mean about the gravestone being chilled in half. You should send a copy to Network rail and ask what type of person do they employ who would be so disrespectful as to do this to a grave. They could have moved it. Great photo's though , I'd love to get some like that


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## Seahorse (Dec 12, 2009)

Initially shocked.

And yet.

Thinking about it, if that happened to my last resting place, I guess you could call it the Ultimate Explore. You are simply part of the natural decay that we all love so much.

YAY!!! to graveyards returning to nature.


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## cstevens (Dec 12, 2009)

Cheers all for the comments, its not the normal urbex I know (in fact I went from here over to Jacobs http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/jacobs/), but this cemetery needs to be seen to believed.

This was a first outing with a new camera for me, so please with the results.

Save you having to look through them all at http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/graves here is the fence picture.






I think your right, I might actually send this to them and also the Sheffield Star...pretty appauling if you ask me!


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## kevsy21 (Dec 12, 2009)

shame to see it left and forgotten,nice pics and report


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## james.s (Dec 12, 2009)

Well at least they can rest in peace now 
Nice shots.


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## Dieter_Schmidt (Dec 12, 2009)

cstevens said:


> Cheers all for the comments, its not the normal urbex I know (in fact I went from here over to Jacobs http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/jacobs/), but this cemetery needs to be seen to believed.
> 
> This was a first outing with a new camera for me, so please with the results.
> 
> Save you having to look through them all at http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/graves here is the fence picture.



Probably took a mash to it.


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## UrbanX (Dec 13, 2009)

Wow! Stunning place, have you ever been to highgate in London? More mainstream but similar feel. Look forward to more reports!


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## RichardH (Dec 13, 2009)

cstevens said:


> I think your right, I might actually send this to them and also the Sheffield Star...pretty appauling if you ask me!



It's not often that I get angry, but this photograph hit paydirt.

It isn't an area of law with which I'm familiar. In fact, the law governing burial sites and the desecration thereof is something I've never studied. However, I know a man who has, and I'll be seeing him sometime between now and the new year. I shall seek his opinion. If the people who erected the fence did not own the graveyard and grave markers, then it would appear on the facts to be criminal damage at least.

Even if smashing up a gravestone - which could easily have been removed and laid flat - is not illegal in this context, it's certainly immoral. I would bring it to the attention of as many meejya outlets as you can. Let them do something worthwhile for a change.


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## mexico75 (Dec 13, 2009)

Great shots, personally I think it looks better the way it is now. I'd much rather end up somewhere like that than in a neatly manicured new cemetary. The fence thing is pretty disgusting though

P.s. judging from the poppy crosses its a soldiers grave as well which makes it worse.


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## cstevens (Dec 13, 2009)

I have sent a note to Network Rail on this matter:

"I would like to bring to your attention a very disturbing matter. 

I have been recently documenting a forgotten cemetery in Sheffield (Wardsend), this cemetery is the only one in the UK that has a rail running through it. 

I would like you to study one of my photographs below:
http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/graves/images/P1000562-LR.jpg

Please then let me know if you as a company feel that desecrating someone's headstone to lay your fence is acceptable. I am sure you can agree that you could easily have righted the drop stone, or simply removed and laid the stone flat (which is acceptable).

In this case your workers have smashed the stone in half in order to lay your fence. You might also notice the poppy crosses, so it’s likely that this is a soldiers grave which makes it worse. 

Let me know you comments, I would be interested to hear them!!!"


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## mexico75 (Dec 13, 2009)

Give them a couple of days then send it to the Sun


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## cstevens (Dec 13, 2009)

Oh believe me, I will unlease the press on them


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## RichardH (Dec 13, 2009)

mexico75 said:


> P.s. judging from the poppy crosses its a soldiers grave as well which makes it worse.



I'm not sure I agree that it being a soldier's grave makes the desecration worse, at least in my mind. However, those crosses are relatively new; a few years old a most. That would indicate that, even though the cemetery may be forgotten, this grave is still visited.

It would be bad enough that an abandoned gravestone was smashed, but can you imagine being a grave visitor and seeing such vandalism, apparently officially sanctioned?


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## godzilla73 (Dec 13, 2009)

A very interesting thread with great pics. thanks!


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## night crawler (Dec 14, 2009)

cstevens said:


> I have sent a note to Network Rail on this matter:
> 
> "I would like to bring to your attention a very disturbing matter.
> 
> ...



Spot on. I used to cut the grass in a grave yard and quite often moved some old headstone that had fallen over out of the way. People used to get upset with you for doing it I'd hate to think what the relatives would have thought of the cut headstone.


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## Lhiannan Shee (Dec 15, 2009)

I love the colours in your pictures! It looks really peaceful... shame about the damage though.

This has just reminded me that need to go photograph an old cemetery in my town!


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## RichardH (Dec 16, 2009)

'tis the season to be bored (fa-la-la), so I relish the opportunity for a little bit of legal sleuthing.

I've had a reply from my friend (hello Martyn, if you're reading this), with a wealth of general information and useful pointers.

*Criminal liability first.*

Desecration. There is no specific offence of "desecration" in English law. There is a relatively minor offence of removing a body from a grave without lawful authority (Burials Act 1825 S.57), but this carries only a fine of up to £200. Significantly more serious is the act of removing a body from consecrated ground (ie digging one up and taking it *out* of the cemetery or graveyard, rather than just moving it to somewhere else), which is an indictable offence (R.v Lynn, 1788). Nothing about damaging a headstone though, unfortunately.

Criminal damage. This would be an intellectually challenging avenue to pursue, but of little practical purpose. It would be necessary to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a particular limited company, or a particular person caused the damage intentionally. A lot of effort, for little practical benefit.

Damaging a Scheduled Monument. This one could be interesting. Is this cemetery designated as such within the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979? It may well have been. However, there are also some statutory defences to an allegation of an offence under this Act. It would first be necesssary to identify that the cemetery _is_ covered by the Act, before undertaking further research.

*Now on to civil liability.*

The general proposition is that a civil action can only be brought by the person who has been wronged. Who has been wronged in this case? The person (or legal entity) who is the legal owner of the headstone. That's not as simple to identify as it sounds.

Given the age of this cemetery (it certainly predates the Cemeteries Act 1933). Is it on land owned by the Church of England? If not, it would almost certainly have been established by its own Act of Parliament. In either case, the relevant instantiating legislation will contain provisions relating to the ownership of burial plots and grave ornaments in the cemetery. There are many scenarios. The plot could have been purchased outright in perpetuity. It could have been purchased for a term of years, after which the plot and all ornaments become the property of the owners of the cemetery itself. It could have been subdivided, with sections being sold or leased to other organisations within the geographical area (this is a distinct possibility, given the military connections). It could have remained in the ownership of the cemetery authority, with a license to bury and a right of perpetual access. Only one thing is certain: it will be owned by _someone_. Thanks largely to the Normans, every square inch of land and every atom of every good or chattel is owned by _somebody_. You just need to find out who. In extremis, it would be the Crown.

Having established who actually owns the headstone, we must consider whether permission (express or implied) has been given, and whether that permission covers the damage that has been done. In some ways it is analogous to trees hanging over a boundary fence: you have the right to cut back the trees to the exact boundary line, but the branches must be given to the owner - they are not yours. The same applies with the headstone.

Assuming permission was given, to what extent? Was it permission to move any obstacle in the way of the fence? To smash any gravestones they disapproved of? This is a question of what is reasonable in the circumstances. Given the equipment that the fence-erectors would have had on site, I think it would have been far more reasonable for them to have lifted the gravestone (or cut it off at ground level) and laid it flat. Or possibly to have set it upright again. But I'm not deciding this case, and my opinions are not worth the paper they aren't written on.

All in all, a very interesting situation. If you want to pursue it further you will have to do a few things: ascertain whether the cemetery is scheduled, and identify its establishing legislation (either ecclesiastical, if CofE property, or by Act of Parliament). Your best option is to identify the owners of the cemetery (I _think_ that the owner of a cemetery is required by law to have contact details clearly visible on or near each main entrance), and then make sure that they are aware of what has been done.

Sorry for the long post, but I think that the circumstances justify it. Now I'm going to have a cup of tea.


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## cstevens (Dec 16, 2009)

Whether or not they have or have not broken some law or other is largely errelevant.

They are yet another large company just shitting on anything in their way.

In Sheffield a drunk recently pissed on a war momorial in the town centre, and has been found guilty and currently waits to see if he is going to jail or just paying a huge fine and doing a million hours community service.

Hardly seems fair that he got hammered, and yet Network Rail gets away with smashing someones headstone to peices.

At the end of the day, nothing is going to change, they will do nothing, I dont really car all that much, but I will take this to the press just cos I can at the end of the week when they fail to reply....I will at least feel that I did something to make myself feel a little better


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## Foxylady (Dec 18, 2009)

Fabulous place and photos. Very atmospheric, especially seeing the gravestones rising out of the bracken on that steep hillside. Gorgeous stuff. 
All the best with the publicity. :evil:


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## cstevens (Dec 18, 2009)

Sheffield Star will be running a piece on this next week !!!!!!

Network Rail have denied it to the Star, said it must be vandals, sheffield star have said how many vandals put up fences lol!

What they havent seen is another photo that is damming evidence, which is being held back for the time being.

I am also revisiting this weekend, as I believe they have gone up there and removed some posts to make it look less like they did it...shame as then it will be so so obvious


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## mexico75 (Dec 20, 2009)

Nice one, make sure you keep us posted.


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## the harvester (Dec 21, 2009)

Great post you have here, enjoyed the pictures, truly despicable that the railway workers hacked a headstone in half though, I don't know if this is the only grave-yard with a railway running through it mind you? There's one local to me that has sections of track still in it from the victorian times, it's Brookwood cemetry, a big place that was established to cope with the huge numbers of deceased from London, it had a rail track through it known as the 'necropolis line' have a google at it there is quite a bit written on the place.
happy xmas.


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## hayabusabart (Dec 21, 2009)

cstevens said:


> Cheers all for the comments, its not the normal urbex I know (in fact I went from here over to Jacobs http://www.cm-photos.co.uk/events/jacobs/), but this cemetery needs to be seen to believed.
> 
> This was a first outing with a new camera for me, so please with the results.
> 
> ...



Please cause as much shit as you can to Network Rail.. this image (although in itself a spectacular photo along will all your others) is one one the saddest things I have ever seen..

As part of my job I have been responsble for installing pallisade fencing like that.. the thought of just taking a lump hammer to someones headstone is appalling! I can even imagine the moron fixers laughing about it to! bas***ds :icon_evil


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## the harvester (Dec 23, 2009)

Network rail should be ashamed of themselves for what has happened to that headstone, and to have the nerve to blame it on alleged vandals beggars belief, if this goes all the way (as I hope it does) perhaps they would have been better off admitting the damage and making amends as soon as you brought it to their attention. After all would a vandal traipse all the way to this derelict graveyard with the sole intention of strategically smashing a headstone down one side so it ended up looking like it does now, no they bloody would not they would have smashed loads of headstones randomly and not so clinically.
good luck with taking action on this, don't be fobbed off by their bullshit replies, howabout sleuthing down the relatives of the guy who's headstone it is and letting them know? I'm bloody annoyed.............


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## fidget64 (Dec 27, 2009)

Visited in August 2009 and due for a return, now the vegetation has died down a bit. I took a picture of that gravestone too, so if you need further photographic evidence just let me know. It is really sad that something like this has been done because although the cemetery is largely neglected, there is very little sign of actual vandalism. Perhaps even chavs have morals whereas large companies do not!


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## smileysal (Dec 28, 2009)

You could also send a copy of the photo of the damaged headstone and fence to the local MP for that area, plus the press, both local and national. Something would I'm sure get done then. 

Good luck with it all.

Excellent pics btw, love looking around old cemetaries, and taking pics. 

Cheers,

 Sal


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## Archie's mum (Mar 13, 2010)

What gorgeous atmospheric shots. I hope you got somewhere with the sheffield star.


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## Locksley (Mar 14, 2010)

Brilliant, I must get back there and get some more pics.


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