Building of Supertram & removal of graves @ Sheffield Cathedral

[theimposter]

I don't know how true this is but it was told to me by someone who used to work with me at Boots on High Street...

 

When the Supertram was being built on High Street the tracks had to be diverted away from the front of the Cutlers Hall and the stop set further back from the entrance. This was so not to cause delays when various VIP's arrived! Anyway in order for this to be done the lines and stop had to be built where they are now. This involved the removal of lots of graves. If you look on the floor there is still lots of gravestones. I think this is something to do with the poor being buried as near to a church as possible if they couldnt afford to buried in the graveyard. Anyway, blue sheets were put up around the area (visible from the 4th floor canteen at Boots and during the work bones and remains were chucked in skips that had been there for a couple of hundred years.

 

Anybody heard this before or am I having my leg pulled. It's certainly horrendous if it actually happened

[HotPhil]

I don't see why it's horrendous. It's not like they mind.

If it did happen (and it looks pretty likely) then I'm sure it was done in a sensible, respectful manner.

[alchemist]

The removal of old graves out of the way of construction is quite a common event. Specialist firms are used and the bodies are treated with great respect. The bodies are reburied either at the same graveyard if it is still open or at the nearest open graveyard. The new work at the cathedral also required the removal of a couple of old graves which had somehow managed to miss all the earlier building work. An extra problem in these caes were that the graves were partly under boundary walls which also had to be demolished.

 

dave

[Damon]

I do remember that being reported at the time.

 

There were tall blue screens surrounding the area, but yes, there were buildings that overlooked the site and people said they saw stuff being handled in a somewhat inappropriate manner.

 

It was front page of the Star stuff for a few days, that was all.

[rocketman]

Not sure about the 'throwing bones in skips' stuff, that sounds like artistic licence to make the story sound more interesting!

 

As someone else said, this is a common occurance and it is legal obligation that specialist firms carry out the work. It is therefore expensive to complete.

 

On an interesting note it is this very legal requirement that has keep the general cemetery in Sharrow free from development all these years. Because it holds one of the largest collection of bodies in the UK (about 80,000 I think) it would cost so much to clear the site that no one has wanted the land.

 

So lets give a big thanks to all the bones of our dead victorian Sheffielders for helping to retain this fabulous space in our city!

[Damkina]

I do know that the bones were dug up, but many of the grave stones were layed flat before this because many of them were leaning over and quite dangerous.

The clergy from the Cathedral were there with the workmen when the bodies were dug up, and a service was held when they were re-intered at one of Sheffields cemetaries.

 

I'm sure that the staff at the Cathedral will be happy to help with your enquiries.

 

But many were unhappy about these activities, and it only got worse when someone said about the bones being thrown into a skip. I'm sure this never happened.

 

At the time I was apalled at what they were doing, but thinking back on it over the years, my viewpoint has changed. It's only the same as when we dig up ancient buriels to display in a museum and for tv. And we all want to go and gawp at them!

[fosy]

i could be wrong, but i am sure i read a story in the star around the time of supertram construction. With regard to the old churchyard at the bottom of St Phillips road (near to the old Roscoe Bingo Hall) where Penistone and Langsett Rd met.

There was a report around the disrespectful clearence of this site, and remains were found from this site up on the Wragg tip at Deepcar in the landfill.

[Harry1000]

I heard that most of the old gravestones were put for storage in the cellar of the Stonehouse pub opposite the Cathedral, and sometimes it is quite spooky going down there to change barrels etc.

[Trekker]

I think it's alright 2 resite graves solong it's done carefully

[Plain Talker]

The clearing of graves around churches because of development has happened elsewhere.

 

When the dual carriageway, St Mary's Gate was built, past Saint Mary's church on Bramall Lane, a considerable portion of St Marys' graveyard was lost to the road and to the subway complex.

 

I was only a small child when the dual carriageway was constucted, but I remember the screening that was put around the churchyard, as the remains were cleared away.

 

I remember the Star-paper making a huge fuss about some supposed "inappropriateness" when the area round the Cathedral and Cutlers Hall had the exhumation work going on, for the Supertram development.

 

I'm not sure, I think, personally, it might have been just sensationalism, a "juicy" story. Because of the height of the buildings that surround the area in question, it would have been quite hard to have screens high enough to totally block sight-lines, and yet be safe, and keep enough light to see what the excavation team were doing..

 

I think that enough was done at the time, (both in regard to the Cathredral, and at Saint Mary's) to prevent the general public from being disturbed or offended at the work, and being able to gawp at the dig, eg from the top deck of passing buses etc. (I can't think of the right word... "their "sensibilities offended...?")

 

I think it would have been *more* disrespectful, knowing that the burials were there, to have left the remains there, and have the trams going over them, than to exhume them and inter them in a safe/ respectful place, such as City Road Cem, or Hutcliffe Wood.

 

As Hotphil says; the folks who are being exhumed and reinterred are hardly going to be bothered, are they?

 

The burials concerned date from over 2/300 years ago, anyway, because the area around the Cathedral was hugely developed from the 1750s or thereabouts.

 

PT