| AdminHistory | Burngreave Cemetery was opened in 1861.
The cemetery is situated in the former Brightside Bierlow township. 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 16 Mar 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 continued to be a major facility for the city’s burials until the 1960s, after which no new graves were created. Burials are now only conducted for families who already own plots and where the grave still has space.
(Source: Friends of Burngreave Chapel and Cemetery). |