Position of Grave in Graveyard.

[Ruskie]

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. 
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

[coombs]

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.

[Skoosh]

The great thing was being buried near the altar, in Scotland the altar's were removed altogether & replaced by the communion table.

Skoosh.

[Guy Etchells]

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

[Kiltpin]

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

[bykerlads]

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.

[jfchaly]

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

[bykerlads]

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.

[Skoosh]

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! 

Skoosh.