COMPLETED....WITH THANKS West Street Cemetery, Durban - anyone?

[apanderson]

Hi all,

Thanks to the amazing kindness of 'rutti tutti', I now know the burial place of some of my ancestors.

There are 2 graves in West Street Cemetery, Durban (I have the exact locations) which I would love photos of.

If anyone fancies a bit of graveyard wandering, please PM me for Sections, Grave Numbers etc.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Anne (in Scotland) 

[3sillydogs]

Hi there

Try this link and see if you can find them here,

 http://www.eggsa.org/librarySearch/searchGraves.htm

there are a lot of gravestone photos, have found a few of mine here.

Good luck

[carol8353]

Anne,

I've just emailed a relation who lives in Durban to see if he lives anywhere near to be able help you out.

Will let you know.

Carol

[apanderson]

Thank you both very much for your replies.

3sillydogs - I got a photo of one of the graves from the site you suggested.

Since making my original post, I have been told that cemeteries are pretty 'dodgy' places to visit as they're often frequented by some less than savoury characters, so that last thing I want is any harm to come to anyone whilst trying to do a favour.

I'll leave the thread running for the moment and see if anyone 'happens' to have photos.

Thanks again,

Anne 

[pampoen]

This cemetery is bordered on all 4 sides by taxi ranks and hawkers selling their wares. I too have family buried there and when I was in Durban over Xmas I was not brave enough to venture into that place. One would need a large group to go in there however I am sure it is full of squatters and used as a dumping ground and toilet. Not a good state of affairs.

[apanderson]

Thank you for your reply pampoen.

It certainly sounds as though it's in a bad way - very sad.

Here in Scotland, although many cemeteries are a bit overgrown and sometimes neglected, a big part of tourism is based on people searching for their ancestor's graves, so whether tiny churchyards or massive cemeteries, people are regularly seen wandering around.

Most of the bigger cemeteries, certainly the ones in Glasgow, are quite regularly patrolled by both cemetery staff and the local police, so anyone doing something they shouldn't be doing run the risk of being caught, but in saying that, during school holidays, lots of kids have nothing better to do than get up to a bit of nonsense (or worse) in them.

Anne 

[pampoen]

Unfortunately with the new South Africa crime has escalated, the politicians and councillors pocket the cash and spend as little as possible on the infrastructure. West street is now full of all nationalities of pick picketers, thieves and people up to no good. Because they want the tourists they police and keep the beach front clean and orderly.

[3sillydogs]

Hi there

You can also try this  http://www.genza.org.za/  go to the Projects tab and see if they have West Street on one of the cemetery recording links.

Unfortunately it is a sad fact that many of our cemeteries are "no go" areas.  Durban does concentrate on keeping the tourist areas safe and so other areas are neglected although because of the crime in cemeteries they are starting to put in security cameras in a few which are in the suburbs.

[carol8353]

My mum's cousin in Durban was happy to go for you,but reading all the comments about it I'm afraid I'm not prepared to ask him,he's an elderly gentleman ..........sorry