RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Staffordshire => Topic started by: genboy on Tuesday 18 June 13 03:14 BST (UK)
-
Hi, this is a long shot, but I wonder if anybody is local to Bilston Cemetery, and takes grave photos there, could they take one of my ancestor's grave next time they're there please. Being in Australia rules out a personal journey unfortunately :) And having a photo of an English Ancestral grave (even without masonry) would be a first for me.
I found a few people in an old Ancestry.com forum that took photos in Bilston Cemetery, but got no replies.
So, if anybody can help the details from Freereg are: Bilston Cemetery,
James Tranter: Buried: 22Mar1858 in public grave#1652 (consecrated ground)"
Any help gratefully accepted
Scott
-
Bilston cem is massive. I went a few years ago. I don't think they had a cem plan in there at the time but I think the older bit is the bit near the entrance. I want to go back and have a look there so as long as it's not urgent I could go there. I am also starting to do voluntary work for the gravestone photos website. So I could do a few others at the same time. Don't live in bilston but not that far away but need a map of the cemetery layout really but i'll try without. There was quite a few gravestones but I don't think my relly has one.
-
thanks for the reply and the offer.
The guy doing the photos in the Ancestry.com forum said he used to ask the cemetery keeper who had graves and location info, if that helps.
thanks again, Scott
-
Hopefully there's one there when I go then. There was n't one there the last time I went although there's a little lodge. Sometimes these cems are looked after from a central source.
-
Hi Scott,
When I was trying to find my Great Grandfather's grave in the Cannock area I contacted the Cannock Bereavement services who were able to tell me what had happened to him. He was also buried in a public grave and they not only gave me the marker number but also an idea of where in the cemetery he was buried. This is the link to the Bilston Bereavement Service, perhaps they could advise you of the burial location.
http://www2.wolverhampton.gov.uk/community_living/life_events/deaths/cemeteries/bilston/
Cathy
-
Thanks I'll give a go
-
I was going to suggest the bereavement service, perhaps they can give you a map of where it is. I will still try and have a look. Can't say which day yet as I've waiting to hear about a new circuit board for my boiler, they've got to order one and also they've capped my fire off and apparently I getting a new fire so waiting in for phone calls. Not telling them I've got a portable heater. I'm wanting to go to archives so hopefully I get a phone call sooner rather than later. At least I can do some more freereg entries as they are updating next week. Won't I be annoyed if I stay in and don't hear anything. I think the best time for me to go will be the middle of the day or Saturday. I can go back if necessary.
-
Away from home at present but have a map of Bilston cemetery. I think that the number that you mention would be fairly central, near the area of the old Chapel where you can now park.
If you pm me an email address, I can send a copy of the map in a few days.
[added: also, if the groundsmen are busy working there, then they have large scale maps in the on-site office, but it's not usually open otherwise]
-
Wolverhampton bereavement service are responsible for Bilston cemetery and kindly sent someone out to meet me there several years ago. Once I had the hang of how the plan worked I was able to find more graves for myself at a later date.
There is a copy of the burial registers on film at Wolverhampton Archives that was very useful for finding family graves.
-
Could I possibly have a copy of the map please as I will attempt to go there again. I've been today but you probably know the size of it. I've walked around and round but could n't see one for james tranter and would like to go again and find my relatives grave as well. I could n't see any groundsmen as it was Saturday and it also bucketed down whilst I was there. Also does the bereavement service charge as some do? I saw the big hut like thing. There's some old graves mixed in with the 1900's and some of the stones have been toppled on to the graves. Some are in very bad nick. I've seen the wooden grave there as well as some of the examples of bath tile like ones. There's quite a few soldiers graves as well. I must have spent a couple of hours going round . I don't think my relative has a stone and he's indexed as pitcher as opposed to petcher, got killed from a rockfall in a stonepit and death registered in tipton as opposed to bilston where he lived. If that's okay i'll send my email address. I should have the ref no for my relative.
-
No problem weste,
Just pm your email address. It may be a few days as I'm away from home at present and may have more urgent stuff to do when I get back.
Haven't been in a while as I don't live near there but went several times a few years ago and so got a feel for the lay-out of the place. Even found a couple of graves that I didn't already have references for as they were close to other relatives. From memory, the number given by genboy is close to some of mine, but I could be wrong as it's a while since I looked them out.
Bereavement services didn't charge me, but that was some years ago. It was a short appointment and the person was obviously busy so I didn't like to ask too much, but all the graves of interest to me are in the more historical parts of the cemetery.
In areas with few monuments, I found it useful to take notes of some of the details from stones in the approximate area to see how close the reference numbers for them were to my, perhaps unmarked, graves, but this only works if you can get to the archives between each visit and neither have been an option recently.
-
Had a look for the tranter grave again at the weekend but unfortunately still can't see it. There are some graves without info on. I can see where 1870's are but I don't remember seeing any gravestones earlier. I think the number given anyway is probably the number of the entry and really we need the grave reference details.
-
The information given by genboy says that #1652 is a public grave, so will not have a monument on it, so to find it you would need to count from known identified graves.
They were certainly using graves in the number ranges 1500-1600+ by the late 1850s and 1860s, although the first burials in plots 1664-1667 seem to be somewhat later than that (1890s onward - I think that my family may have reserved a block of graves).
Grave #1664, marked A on the map that I sent has the name McDonough on it. Unfortunately I haven't recorded in the file with all the plot numbers, which of the family graves has a monument on it, and due to the failure of an old computer, it might take a very long time to find the photographs that I took.
-
I will check what photos I took the other day that was quite useful having a name and will be going back again hopefully soon. I could take a photo of the general area. I did walk along that bit but the photos I took over that way was over the back although I did a few around anyway. The older bit though appears to be up near the entrance and the middle bits around it.