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Topic: A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA (Read 18392 times)
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Valda
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RootsChat Marquessate
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Before the 1850s most burials took place in churchyards though some institutions had their own burial grounds. Every inhabitant of a parish had a right to be buried in their parish churchyard or burial ground. Before the 1840s most people were buried in Anglican (Church of England) churchyards, though some non-conformist churches also had burial grounds. During larger epidemics further burial sites would be set aside for the duration of the deaths. By the late C18th as London churchyards increasingly became overcrowded private speculators offering cheaper burials bought burial grounds from non-conformist chapels. Though the survival of Anglican Church registers is relatively good many of these other burial grounds have no surviving records.
By the 1840s city churchyards and burial grounds were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of bodies needing to be buried. They were considered major health risks and were increasingly closed to new burials. By the early 1850s following the Burial Act of 1852, the majority of churchyards in the areas nearest the City of London were closed or would be closed within the next few years. THE TIMES newspaper listed some of the closures as they took place.
Some examples of C19th descriptions of London churchyards
St Anne Soho Westminster a churchyard of half an acre.
It is estimated that in this small ground and the vaults under the church 110,240 bodies were interred during 160 years.
The ground is very full, and is considerably raised above its original level; it is overlooked by houses thickly inhabited. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood have frequently complained of the past and present condition of this place.
St Giles in the Fields
It is full of coffins, up to the surface. Coffins are broken up before they are decayed, and bodies are removed to the "bone house" before they are sufficiently decayed to make their removal decent. The effect upon the atmosphere, in that very densely populated spot, must be very injurious.
St Mary Whitechapel
It appears almost impossible to dig a grave in this ground without coming into contact with some recent interment, and the grave digger's pick is often forced through the lid of a coffin when least expected, from which so dreadful an effluvium is emitted, as to occasion immediate annoyance; most of the graves are very shallow, - some entire coffins, indeed, are to be found within a foot and a half of the surface.
By 1895 Isabella Holmes for the London County Council had found the location of nearly 500 burial grounds, churchyards and civic cemeteries in the city and suburbs of London, of which 364 still existed at least in part, 90 of which were public gardens. In 1895 only 41, largely civic cemeteries were still in use. The county of London in 1895 was around 119 square miles in size and Isabella didn’t count in her list any just beyond its boundaries. Greater London formed in 1965 is just over 300 square miles in size.
There is a short video on YOU TUBE about London’s Lost Burial Grounds
Detailed information about London churchyards and burial grounds by geographic region and parish is given at LONDON BURIAL GROUNDS which has background information and modern photographs (though not of individual gravestones). Many London churchyards and burial grounds have been lost mainly through redevelopment or some from bombing during World War Two. The London Burial Grounds website gives present and past information on each churchyard and burial ground.
LONDON GARDENS ONLINE includes information on some surviving churchyards.
When churchyards and crypts were cleared the remains were reburied in mass graves in civic cemeteries. A more modern example is the crypt of ST MARYLEBONE
As the population of London continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century, beginning largely in the 1840s, large non-denominational civic cemeteries were created and further churchyards in increasingly urbanised areas were closed to new burials. Throughout the twentieth and twenty first centuries further civic cemeteries and crematoriums were established. The records for these civic cemeteries and crematoriums are usually held by the London boroughs that now manage them or by companies where the cemetery and crematorium is privately owned.
Churches where burials have ceased in churchyards may still continue to maintain registers of burial services where the service is held at the church with the interment taking place at the cemetery, though this is not always clearly stated in the registers themselves. Increasingly in urban areas most services were held at the cemetery chapels.
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« Last Edit: Saturday 18 June 11 10:56 BST (UK) by Valda »
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Valda
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RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 15186
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS DEPOSITED IN RECORD OFFICES
The GUILDHALL LIBRARY and the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES jointly hold a large proportion of the deposited church registers for the City of London and the historic county of Middlesex (excluding Westminster). The LMA also hold registers for areas of Surrey and Kent which became part of the newly formed county of London in 1889 (Battersea, Bermondsey, Camberwell, Deptford, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth and Woolwich), but not the areas of Essex, Kent and Surrey which became part of Greater London in 1965.
LONDON GENERATIONS is the London Metropolitan Archives online index for parish registers and also includes a guide to which areas are in which present day Greater London Boroughs.
The London Metropolitan Archives GUIDE to parish registers and the Guildhall Library LIST of parishes in the City of London
WESTMINSTER ARCHIVES GUIDE lists the parish registers deposited at this archive. These church registers (excluding Bishops Transcripts held at the London Metropolitan Archives) are not at present online.
These county archives hold the deposited registers for areas of their counties which became part of Greater London in 1965.
ESSEX RECORD OFFICE holds most of the deposited registers for present day London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge. The exception is the London borough of WALTHAM FOREST where registers are deposited with the local borough archives. Essex Record Office is currently digitalising its parish registers to eventually place images of the registers online. SEAX Essex Record Office online index
SURREY HISTORY CENTRE GUIDE lists the parish registers deposited at this archive. These church registers (excluding Bishops Transcripts held at the London Metropolitan Archives) are not at present online.
THE CENTRE FOR KENTISH STUDIES holds copies of parish registers in the London boroughs of Bexley and Bromley. The deposited registers are held by the local archives of the London boroughs of BEXLEY and BROMLEY. The county record office has produced a GUIDE to parish registers which lists the whereabouts of deposited registers.
LOCAL LONDON BOROUGH ARCHIVES
The local archives and history centres in the present day thirty two London boroughs may have produced transcriptions and indexes of the parish registers and monumental inscriptions and will have microfilmed copies of the parish registers for their areas and in some cases the actual original deposited registers. Some examples of historic parish registers deposited in local London Archives include
All Saints Isleworth - Hounslow Local Studies Library
St Luke Charlton – Greenwich Heritage Centre
St Margaret Lee – Lewisham Local History and Archives Centre
St Paul Hammersmith – Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre
The GUIDE on the Rootschat London and Middlesex boards to London Archives and useful information leaflets, lists all the London borough archives and gives the link to their websites. Many though not all have either online indexes or lists of the parish registers and indexes they hold.
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« Last Edit: Wednesday 17 August 11 10:21 BST (UK) by Valda »
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Valda
Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 15186
|
A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS
Westminster Archives GUIDE to monumental inscription transcriptions held for Westminster churches.
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS ONLINE
If anyone knows of any others please send me a pm
City of London
CHURCHYARD INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CITY OF LONDON published 1910
ST OLAVE’S JEWRY published 1887
Churchyards formerly in the county of Middlesex which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
A Collection of Curious and Interesting Epitaphs, Copied from the Monuments of Distinguished and Noted Characters in the Churches and Churchyards of EDMONTON, ENFIELD, FRIERN BARNET, HADLEY, HORNSEY and TOTTENHAM published 1875
A collection of curious and interesting epitaphs copied from the Monuments of Distinguished and Noted Characters in the ANCIENT CHURCH AND BURIAL GROUNDS OF ST PANCRAS published 1869
A Collection of Curious and Interesting Epitaphs, Copied from the Monuments of Distinguished and Noted Characters in the Cemeteries and CHURCHES OF ST PANCRAS published 1872
ALL HALLOWS TOTTENHAM
Churchyards formerly in the county of Kent which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
CHARLTON: NEAR WOOLWICH full and complete copies of all the inscriptions in the old parish church and churchyard, together with notes on the history of the manor and of the families connected with the place published 1908
KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY has some churchyard monumental inscriptions online which were transcribed mostly between the 1760s and 1923. They do not purport to be full transcriptions of all the gravestones found in each churchyard.
They include St Mary’s Bexley (?), St George’s Beckenham (1922), St Peter & St Paul Bromley (1914), St Luke’s Charlton (1908), St Nicholas Chislehurst (1890), St Nicholas Deptford (pre 1880), St John the Baptist Erith (1885), St Margaret’s Lee (1830), St Mary’s Lewisham (1889?), All Saints’ Orpington (1919), St Mary Cray (1921), St Paul Cray (1921), St Bartholomew’s Sydenham (1974), St John the Baptist West Wickham (1891), St Mary’s Woolwich (1893)
Churchyards formerly in the county of Surrey which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CROYDON parish church online transcription published in 1818
CROYDON online transcription published 1883 and includes ADDINGTON, BEDDINGTON and SHIRLEY
ST MARY LAMBETH online transcription published in 1826
ST MARY NEWINGTON online transcription published in 1880
LOOKUPS OFFERED
Churches formerly in the county of Essex which became part of London in 1965
ST THOMAS NOAK HILL burials 1841-1920 and monumental inscriptions
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