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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: jfchaly on Sunday 07 April 19 21:20 BST (UK)

Title: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: jfchaly on Sunday 07 April 19 21:20 BST (UK)
Has anyone noticed how near to church "Well to do" families had their graves.
When I was looking for family graves, I began to notice a pattern of "Well to do" having graves either close to church or beside main pathway to the church.
The graves of poor or less well off which had either no headstones or just markers were further away.

The graves would belong to the period 1800 to about 1920
Roman Catholic in County Kilkenny.

Jfch
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Claire64 on Sunday 07 April 19 21:32 BST (UK)
Some of my well-off ancestors asked in their wills to be buried in the church, which was a sign of status, way back, when they still did this.  Would be interested in what people think about position in churchyard though.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: pinefamily on Monday 08 April 19 06:17 BST (UK)
I would assume it was a "thing" for the well-heeled to buried closer to the church or at least in more prominent locations.
One of my clergy ancestors asked to be buried next to his wife in the chancel, and that was 1726. I'd be curious to hear how late that practice went.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: jim1 on Monday 08 April 19 12:09 BST (UK)
My family were keen tomb builders & had 3 at 3 different Churches all close to the Church.
Not only was it a sign of status (close to the Church cost more) but also a case of closer to God.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Skoosh on Monday 08 April 19 12:13 BST (UK)
South side good, north side not so good!  ;D

Skoosh.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: andrewalston on Monday 08 April 19 16:48 BST (UK)
I believe that higher status graves were closer to the altar. Where burial was allowed inside the building, the Lord of the Manor is likely to be close to the altar rail.

Just outside the chancel was also a posh area. My local church has the stone for a vicar about 2 feet from the wall.

I seem to remember one WDYTYA where the clergyman concerned was buried almost underneath the altar.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Monday 08 April 19 16:52 BST (UK)
I've found clergy buried very  close in to the important bits of the church, even comparatively recently.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Skoosh on Monday 08 April 19 21:14 BST (UK)
The Church of Scotland banned burials inside parish churches in 1581. The lairds grannie rotting away under the floor must have stank the kirk to high heaven.  ;D
They got round this ban by adding burial-aisles to the outside of the kirk.                                                                 

Skoosh.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: hallmark on Monday 08 April 19 21:24 BST (UK)



Graves nearer the Church are more expensive too.....





Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Ruskie on Monday 08 April 19 22:28 BST (UK)
The Church of Scotland banned burials inside parish churches in 1581. The lairds grannie rotting away under the floor must have stank the kirk to high heaven.  ;D
They got round this ban by adding burial-aisles to the outside of the kirk.                                                                 

Skoosh.

Burying bodies beneath the church can destabilise the foundations too. I read it in a book. (possibly Necropolis by Catharine Arnold. A good read if anyone is interested, though it relates specifically to London).

Found something to support this:
https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/15/4624906/bath-abbey-church-floor-collapsing-6000-bodies-underneath
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: coombs on Monday 08 April 19 22:37 BST (UK)
I have found a few direct ancestors who were vicars in the 1500s and 1600s in Essex, and they are buried inside the church. I shall have to go and visit these churches some time.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Skoosh on Tuesday 09 April 19 07:21 BST (UK)
The great thing was being buried near the altar, in Scotland the altar's were removed altogether & replaced by the communion table.

Skoosh.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Guy Etchells on Tuesday 09 April 19 11:40 BST (UK)
There is certainly a tradition concerning the location of graves but as with many “rules” in genealogy I caution people to not lay too much faith in the tradition.

There are two reasons to say this.
1) Many churchyards in the 1960s & 70s had their tombstones re-arranged to accommodate machine mowing of the grass. Sometimes this was as drastic as removing most of the gravestones to the circumference of the churchyard and in some instances some or many stones were re-erected later as the churchyard looked too bare.

2) We do not have any idea when the location of graves tradition started in any particular area.

A good example of this concerns still-births, a stillborn child cannot be baptised therefore according to the location tradition they should, if in the churchyard at all on the north side near the perimeter; but parish burial registers of the 16th century records stillborns not only being buried in the churchyards but in the church and even in the chancel of the church.

Some 16th century All Hallows examples:-

A childe of Mr William Worthy that was Stilborne & not christned ; the grave is at the end of the 17th pue in the Ile next the Streete
a Still borne child of Mr Edward Budge, Salter [of this p'ish. 7s 4d]
a Still borne child of Mr Bunburyes [Draper. 7s 4d]
a Still borne sonne of Mr Samuell Okeley, salter [in our church. 7s 4d]
A Stillborne childe of John Pymmes woollen Drap [of this parish, in the church in the middle yle under the foottstolle against the 9 pewe. 4s]
a Still borne childe of Mr Richard Coumes [Combs ; in the middle oyle against the middle grene pewe. 3s 4d]
a Still borne childe of Georg Aiporte [in the middle yle against the 8 pew 4s]
A Still borne child of Mr Thomas Hussvs, Junior [in the Cansell at the 3d pewe. 1s 4d]

One might suppose that as the men were called Mr. they were men of substance but the fees shown do not seem to uphold this and many seem to be tradesmen rather than gentlemen.

Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Kiltpin on Tuesday 09 April 19 12:07 BST (UK)
From my own very unscientific observations - 

People of the cloth - East end of the church 

Churchwardens and Bell Captains - At the base of the Tower (if there is one). 

Regards 

Chas
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: bykerlads on Wednesday 10 April 19 22:14 BST (UK)
An expert on country churches once told me that if, in the past, the main original church building was ever extended it was always to the north side ie the left as you look towards the alter. So the building is a bit unsymetrical.
They usually could not extend to the south side because there were many graves there: folk wanted to buried in the warmth of the sun!
It's surprising how often you see this one-sided extension feature.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: jfchaly on Thursday 11 April 19 08:56 BST (UK)
I started with position of Grave in Graveyard, but the replies mostly relate to burials within the Church building.
I think that the priest sold graves for different prices, depending on location, so the wealthy chose theirs to be close to church or main pathway to church door.

One priest chose to sell graves as single double or treble plots. The treble plot was same price as a double. You can guess that virtually all the plots are treble ones.

Jfch

Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: bykerlads on Thursday 11 April 19 09:24 BST (UK)
The mention of treble or double plots makes me think of the WW1 war graves in northern France. Sometimes you see a variation on the standard single grave spacing system: 2 or 3 graves much closer together.
When asked by some of my pupils on a school trip to a war cemetery why this closer arrangement happened, there was stunned silence when I suggested that it was probably because, whilst it had been possible to somehow identify which men had been killed, their remains were so intermingled that a treble plot was necessary.
Title: Re: Position of Grave in Graveyard.
Post by: Skoosh on Thursday 11 April 19 13:14 BST (UK)
When criminals were hung in the old Bishop's Castle Yard in Glasgow they were buried on the North side of the Cathedral. The Devil's side!  ;D

Skoosh.