Philips Park Cemetery, Manchester

[Althea7]

Yesterday I put a request on Find a Grave for the gravestone of Thomas Greenwood in Philips Park Cemetery to be photographed, and today I found somebody had replied saying this,

"A few common graves had provision for relatives to add a one line inscription showing name, date of death, and age. However, these can be difficult to locate.
I have not attempted to find the grave"

So I suppose my ancestors have been buried in public mass graves with very little if any headstone inscription.  Maybe I will have better luck finding my 2x great grandmother Bridget Greenwood's gravestone in the Roman Catholic section?

[california dreamin]

Hi Althea7

It sounds like a "cop-out" to me that a photo can't be taken.  I know many graves do not have markers, however they might have a number 'disc' near the plot or the plot can be located and identified  in another way. A photo could be taken of the spot where the grave lies.  I asked for a photo of a grave in Canada, and the kind person took a photo of the spot and the surrounding area, there was no marker at all.

CD

[Althea7]

The person said that there were 25 people buried in that grave.  It could be very difficult to find it, and it might not have any kind of marker.  I will look if I am ever in Manchester.

This explains why Thomas isn't buried with his wife.

[uk2003]

The problem you have with I section CofE is there are 1000's of burials in in 100's of graves, that area is mostly common graves and many of the stones have been removed
Because they are common graves they had flat stones laid on top of the graves with all names inscribed, some do remain but very hard to find as most have sunk into the ground over the years.
I have in the past gone looking in that area and I take a metal spike and a trowel with me and try to locate that way looking for the grave number bottom right of a stone.
When I have found the stone I will uncover, clean, photograph and then recover. I have never been stopped.
Attached is a poor low res photo of I Section.
Google street view will give you an idea what that area look like "grass"
 

[Marj]

Bridget Greenwood is also buried in a common grave E688 Catholic she is position2

https://www.burialrecords.manchester.gov.uk


Marj

[Viktoria]

My mother’s two baby brothers were buried in the coffins of older,non related persons. In the “ pauper’s” section with twenty other people ,a huge flat stone.Seemingly, according to “family history,”, as my grandfather worked for a Funeral Director ,Harland’s near the bottom of Oldham Road, the families whose elderly relatives had died were agreeable to that and the babies were cradled in the arms of the old people , a little comfort to my grandparents no doubt.
It is possible they were neighbours.
The babies did not die at the same time ,a year or so apart, each only very young, one a couple of months from meningitis the second nine days ,his lungs had not fully expanded .
This would be late 1889 - 1891.
What sorrow, and they just got on with life ,a new baby a year or so later ,also a boy ,survived , then in 1910, the teenager died, ia couple of months.later a three week old baby from measles caught from her older sister’s little twin boys who also both died In 1910 ,so four funerals in the first four months of 1910.
They must have been tough to get through that.
Viktoria.