Researching in Australia, and online, I've seen cemeteries zoned by religion of the deceased, which is also clearly indicated on cemetery plans. Is (or was) this practice followed in England and Wales? I notice that in Nantwich cemetery all my Methodist grandparents and several other relatives are buried close together. The newer graves at the top end don't seem to be segregated. Can anyone explain practice and or policy on this? Lynda Burke, nee Chetwood

Hi Lynda It was/is common practice for families to "purchase" a grave site in a churchyard - this usually meant that they paid a fairly large sum of money to have that area reserved for a set number of years, so that families could be buried together. I live right next to a churchyard and watch quite a few burials, often in reopened graves of other family members. In England, public cemeteries are still zoned according to religion so that all local inhabitants can be accommodated (if you know what I mean). Most local authories will publish online maps of the cemeteries in their area which can be downloaded free. Churchyards are more likely to have burials of those who followed that branch of Christianity although that depends on the attitude of the incumbent. Ruth > -----Original Message----- > From: cheshire-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:cheshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Lynda Burke > Sent: 27 August 2013 06:28 > To: CHESHIRE List message > Subject: [CHS] UK cemeteries > > Researching in Australia, and online, I've seen cemeteries > zoned by religion of the deceased, which is also clearly > indicated on cemetery plans. > > Is (or was) this practice followed in England and Wales? I > notice that in Nantwich cemetery all my Methodist > grandparents and several other relatives are buried close together. > > The newer graves at the top end don't seem to be segregated. > > Can anyone explain practice and or policy on this? > > Lynda Burke, nee Chetwood > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

<<snipped>> I've seen cemeteries zoned by religion of the deceased, which is also clearly indicated on cemetery plans. <<snipped>> I'm not sure if there is / was a laid-down requirement but I've only seen reference to "consecrated" and "unconsecrated", where "consecrated" refers to the Anglican church (CofE). I've never yet seen any other denomination though I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some somewhere. I wonder if the practice might not simply come from the local Anglican church taking a "block booking" on part of the new cemetery as its own churchyard filled up, in order to accommodate funerals in its own churches? Rather than deliberately providing an option to, ahem, new arrivals. That might explain the lack of current segregation. Adrian PS - I've never been quite sure when a church makes an entry in its burial register these days. I convinced myself from looking at the entries that a funeral on its own did not justify an entry in the burial register, but the situation is confused by churches like St Mary's in Nantwich, which continued with its own burial register even though burials took place down the road at All Saints.

Stockport cemetery for historic burials definitely has a "Church" section and a "Catholic" section. I do not know if that discrimination still exists. Eric Millward

According to the Devon County Council website:   "A few non-conformist chapels had their own burying grounds, but records of these do not always survive. In London, Dissenters had their own burial ground at Bunhill Fields, which was opened in 1665. Bunhill Fields Burial Registers date from 1715 and are now at The National Archives. Burials usually took place in Church of England (Anglican) churchyards until the larger towns had their own cemeteries. In 1880 the burial of non-conformists by their own ministers in Anglican churchyards was finally permitted by law, and some non-conformist burial grounds were closed at this time." http://www.devon.gov.uk/print/index/councildemocracy/record_office/family_history_3/nonconformist.htm   Joy  ________________________________ From: Adrian Bruce <abruce@madasafish.com> To: 'CHESHIRE List message' <CHESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2013, 11:01 Subject: Re: [CHS] UK cemeteries <<snipped>> I've seen cemeteries zoned by religion of the deceased, which is also clearly indicated on cemetery plans. <<snipped>> I'm not sure if there is / was a laid-down requirement but I've only seen reference to "consecrated" and "unconsecrated", where "consecrated" refers to the Anglican church (CofE). I've never yet seen any other denomination though I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some somewhere. I wonder if the practice might not simply come from the local Anglican church taking a "block booking" on part of the new cemetery as its own churchyard filled up, in order to accommodate funerals in its own churches? Rather than deliberately providing an option to, ahem, new arrivals. That might explain the lack of current segregation. Adrian PS - I've never been quite sure when a church makes an entry in its burial register these days. I convinced myself from looking at the entries that a funeral on its own did not justify an entry in the burial register, but the situation is confused by churches like St Mary's in Nantwich, which continued with its own burial register even though burials took place down the road at All Saints. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message