Cemeteries aren't maintained properly

[gaz_drfc]

Why are most cemeteries in such an awful state?, many of them just don't seem to be maintained at all. Is it really that much hard work to cut some grass, as for headstones some of them even if they were only put on 10-15 years ago seem to be on the verge of falling down.

 

Do the priests who run the churches right next to these places even care? do the council?

[roughy101]

in a word no,wadsley cemetery is in a shocking state,last year some of the locals voluntarely started to clear some of the headstones(and may i say did a wonderful job) but unfortuanatley fought a losing battle,the councils need to do more if volunteers are going to put there time and efforts into helping.

[purdyamos]

Do you mean cemeteries or churchyards? Or both? Having spent years working for a cemetery (voluntarily) I know that it takes a great deal of time effort and money to keep on top of things - just keeping things safe, never mind tidy and trim. Cemeteries were not connected with a church, they were businesses that eventually ended up under council stewardship (which I agree has a terrible history). A lot of the work now is done by volunteers with the council doing their minimum legal obligation (which hasn't been a lot). Matters of ownership of sites and buildings, fundraising for maintenance, restoration and safety can be quite complicated, not to mention expensive. Of course people care, but unless more of them put their hands in their pocket or volunteer a few hours to help out, cemeteries will continue to look the way they do.

 

Modern headstones have very inefficient stumpy ends to keep them solid in the ground, and many of them were controversially laid flat by the council after a kid had an accident.

[Weazel2006]

Do you mean cemeteries or churchyards? Or both? Having spent years working for a cemetery (voluntarily) I know that it takes a great deal of time effort and money to keep on top of things - just keeping things safe, never mind tidy and trim. Cemeteries were not connected with a church, they were businesses that eventually ended up under council stewardship (which I agree has a terrible history). A lot of the work now is done by volunteers with the council doing their minimum legal obligation (which hasn't been a lot). Matters of ownership of sites and buildings, fundraising for maintenance, restoration and safety can be quite complicated, not to mention expensive. Of course people care, but unless more of them put their hands in their pocket or volunteer a few hours to help out, cemeteries will continue to look the way they do.

 

Modern headstones have very inefficient stumpy ends to keep them solid in the ground, and many of them were controversially laid flat by the council after a kid had an accident.

 

That still gets me angry....Health and safety in a chuffin cemetery......not really a place for kids to be throwing themselves around.....stupid child!

[pattricia]

Rivelin cemetery used to be a nice place to walk round but its getting overun now.

[helibish]

I could not agree more, its a terrible shame.

Someone who has lived on this earth then passes over and in months there are weeds and long grass it's just such a shame.

You would think with the amount of money it costs for a burial, the council would have the funds to maintain the resting places of us Sheffield folk.

Lets face it we are the only council in England that lease plots for Twenty years then you have to buy it again.

SCC:loopy:

[Waltheof]

Churchyards (or burial grounds for non-conformist types of Christianity) are generally an embarrassment to the incumbents of the buildings, as many churches/chapels don't have enough attendance and enough funds for the adequate upkeep of their buildings, let alone dealing with the inheritance of memorials to the dead, who contribute nothing any more. Perhaps the situation is different in rural contexts rather than urban, as villages and towns may take more pride in their churches etc. Vicars etc in many Anglican churches have applied to their diocese for a faculty to clear the churchyard to ease the problem.

 

As Purdyamos says, many urban cemeteries started as commercial businesses and were taken over by the councils when they eventually came to the end of their commercial success; in the mid-Victorian period the Burial Act of 1852 was passed, and remained the principal piece of legislation on the subject until largely repealed in 1972. The 1852 Act required the General Board of Health to establish cemeteries to deal with the problem and an immense number of parochial burial-grounds, some open to all, others set apart for the use of special denominations, were opened in cities. Sheffield has therefore inherited a mixture of cemeteries, some originally started by the old Corporation and so always in Council control, and others originally commercial which have been passed to the Council. The General Cemetery, the first to be opened (1836) is closed as a cemetery but still falls under the remit of Bereavement Services and was partly cleared in the late 1970s.

 

In the circumstances it is not surprising that many cemeteries are neglected, since the Council must take the line that its limited supply of funds is better spent on the living than the dead, and in general, people are not as attached to cemeteries as they once were and fragmented and sometimes scattered families don't need or want to visit the graves of loved ones dutifully as they once did (consider the great rise in cremations in preference to burials--though the movement to woodland burials as an alternative is attractive to some). Our older cemeteries are acknowledged to have historic, social and architectural value as curiosities, but would really be hideously expensive to maintain and tidy up to a high standard. Hence the growth in Friends groups all over the country, with attempts at least to keep the worst of the decay at bay. It is sad, but generally people have other priorities than paying continual respect to the long dead (as in the Victorian cemeteries) in terms of hard cash, however much they may find the cemeteries attractive as melancholy, contemplative places or interesting for the style of the monuments and buildings. Councils do the minimum they are obliged to do, therefore, and often rely on volunteer help to keep the premises safe and usable and monitored. In the present economic climate it doesn't look as if much funding will come from anywhere for the improvement or restoration of these legacies of an age long gone by.

[pattricia]

But surely as more people are cremated these cemeteries will eventually fall into disrepair.

[Waltheof]

But surely as more people are cremated these cemeteries will eventually fall into disrepair.

 

Of course, but who's going to be particularly bothered? Urban pressure may sweep some of them away anyhow--consider how many ancient London cemeteries now lie under later buildings...no sentiment there.

[pattricia]

Of course, but who's going to be particularly bothered? Urban pressure may sweep some of them away anyhow--consider how many ancient London cemeteries now lie under later buildings...no sentiment there.

 

Yes, you are right, but what can we do to preserve them ?