Cemeteries

Would this be a good or bad thing for Cemeteries, at least some of them may get some attention I suppose.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/19272231

I think cemeteries are terrible places, why do we stick our dead in the ground and then think that it is our duty to visit them every so often until the novelty wears off. Then leave the grave unvisited and uncared for forever?

Far better corpses are cremated and the ashes scattered in some favourite place or even your own garden. The only good thing that can be said about cemeteries is that at least over the years they progress from being places of sadness into these mini nature reserves.

I don't agree with scattering peoples ashes about common land and I'm not happy with the idea of putting them in one's back garden either.
The idea of being buried is a bit less appealing but at least it provides a historical record until the church or council decide to dig them up or just move the monuments and start burying again.

I went to the Recoletas in Buenos Aires and decided that that might be the way to go, if you can afford it. There is no burying, the coffins are shelved or stacked in crypts, some are dug down others appeared to be solely above ground, some have vast stone doors whilst some have iron gates where you can look in at the occupants. It's so civilised that you could easily move in whilst alive and suffer no ill.
It is also home to a large colony of cats that are fed by the cemetery staff. The reason the cats are so welcome has only just occurred to me, they keep the rodent population down.

For those with a morbid curiosity I will put some photo's in the gallery.

my sister's husband was buried in wythall, which (at the moment) is in the country. you often see rabbits munching on the flowers left by people. here in redditch the cemetery is located near part of the arrow valley park so again there is a lot of wildlife. further out near hollyberrow green.inkberrow there is a woodland burial site, which is as the same suggests, so again quite peaceful and a lot of wildlife.

steph

I agree that they are sometimes areas of refuge for wildlife. Of course, in victorian times, when there were few green areas in the city, families would soemtimes take picnics (or as they put it Pic-nics) to cemeteries and have a day out with the children. Some cemeteries , after falling out od use have been turned into open areas, and, providing that the memorial stones are properly placed in an accessible position, I don't see anything against that. At any rate they are a far better resource than wasting excessive amounts of money, and much countryside, so that peculiarly moronic men can hit a ball with a club all afternoon

Steph

I have been to a couple of funerals a Wythall Cemetery, for all it being a nice place its like all cemeteries a depressing place. I wouldn't think it would last much longer as its so small, unless they plan to extend it.

The old churchyards got so full that they couldn't take anymore. The high ground level around some old churches is evidence of the numbers buried there.
Eventually all the cemetaries will be full. What then? Will our modern day sensitivities allow for reuse, by those who can afford it of course?

Am I right in remembering that St Philips was surrounded by gravestones and monuments?

cremation was available in this country in the 1800s (I think 1884) but i dont know whether it was expensive or just not popular. however, those that could not afford proper burials were placed in graves with other people in them. with no headstones or plaques you could never find your relative if doing fam history. i know one of mine up in shrewsbury is still in the ground but there is not a car park over the top. my own mom and step dad their ashes are in the back garden that they loved under the magnolia tree, not in the urn i might add (they are still in my upstairs room) waiting for me to take them back to robin hood, when i get the chance. i have requested that my ashes be scattered on the beach at perranporth, cornwall together with the ashes of my dog. wonder if my kids will do that, i suppose i shall never know.

i hv seen people at the redditch cemetery having a picnic round the grave of a loved one. i do like going round old graveyards tho, especially looking for fam relatives, only to find that they are not in the church yard but down the road outside the village in a proper cemetery.

steph

St Martins in Birmingham have had almost all (if not all) the outside burials removed. Before it got to the state where they had to stop internments there it got a bit ridiculous. As can be seen from this drawing on tiles from the Woodman Pub on Easy Row. It shows the churchyard with the high walls that were needed to retain all the burials. Even in the 1930's photo they are still pretty high.

Taking into account that there has been a church on that spot for about 800 years I'm willing that not all the bodies have been exhumed over the years, and quite a few still remain.