Sheffield General Cemetery, South Yorkshire, England
Record Id: 2956
The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
The Sheffield General Cemetery Company was set up in response to overcrowding and poor conditions in Sheffield churchyards, exacerbated by a cholera epidemic in 1832. The Company bought the site for use by Nonconformists in 1836 for £1,900. Stone for the chapel, offices and gateways was quarried from the site. In 1846 the Anglicans negotiated with the Company to extend the cemetery and in 1850 c 3ha attached to the east side of the existing site was consecrated by the Archbishop of York. Leading figures from Sheffield's C19 industrial, political, religious and business circles were buried in the Cemetery and by the mid C20 more than 77,000 interments had taken place. In 1963 the Company sold a majority of the shares to a development company and the site subsequently passed to Sheffield City Council. The Cemetery was closed as a burial ground by Act of Parliament in 1979. In the early 1980s the Anglican part of the site was largely cleared of gravestones and the area dedicated as a public park.
Site timeline
1979: The Cemetery was closed as a burial ground by Act of Parliament.
People associated with this site
Designer: Robert Marnock (born 12/03/1800 died 15/11/1889)
Architect: Samuel Worth (born 1779 died 1870)
Features
gate lodge
Feature created: 1836
Creator: Samuel Worth (born 1779 died 1870)
The gateway is flanked by lodges.
Designation status: English Heritage Listed Building Designation Grade II
arch
Feature created: 1836
Creator: Samuel Worth (born 1779 died 1870)
The principal entrance from Cemetery Road, on the south side of the site, is an Egyptian style stone archway.
Designation status: English Heritage Listed Building Designation Grade II
building
Feature created: 1836
Creator: Samuel Worth (born 1779 died 1870)
The former Cemetery Office, also in Graeco-Egyptian style and designed by Worth, is now (1997) called Montague House and is in use as private offices.
Designation status: English Heritage Listed Building Designation Grade II
chapel
Feature created: 1848
The principal building of the Anglican side of the cemetery is a cemetery chapel designed by William Flockton.
Designation status: English Heritage Listed Building Designation Grade II
entrance
The principal entrance is from Cemetery Avenue, laid out as a formal approach, with obelisks (removed in 1926).
gateway
A Classical gateway.
terrace
Three semicircular terraces with stone retaining walls.
religious, ritual and funerary features
Catacombs entered from splayed entrances.
entrance
Another entrance with iron gates leads to the Anglican Chapel from Cemetery Road.
wall
The two parts of the site were divided by a wall, called the Dissenter's Wall, but this has largely disappeared.
entrance
There is also an entrance marked by simple stone gatepiers on Montague Street.
© Copyright Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd. 2007