:-). Thanks a good point actually Jeff. I'm seeing one of the old Anfield family graves in a whole (or should that be hole) new light after discovering 10 people in one grave. Some are very young children, but even so. Pete On Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:58:06 -0000, Jeff Jones <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Pete > Re 60 bodies in a 20ft pit etc. If the hole was 5' wide that would allow for > 2 coffins side by side perhaps? > Cheers, Jeff > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 4:50 PM > Subject: Re: [ENG-MERSEYSIDE] Burial board inquiry 1857 > > >> >> Marged, >> It is an interesting read and generates a number of thoughts. >> >> The first one being of how many people in those times were dying, often >> from diseases much more common in those times than the present day. The >> cemeteries must have been under tremendous strain at times to accomodate >> the dead, especially for the many families who couldn't afford a private >> grave. >> >> Secondly, its no mean feat, even in this day and age, to dig a hole >> 5ftx7ft and 20 to 35ft deep and I feel there's an unmentioned reason as to >> those dimensions. >> 5ftx7ft is hole not dissimilar to one dug for a modern burial although not >> 5ft wide. The attending family may have been blissfully unaware of just >> how much use a 'single' plot had seen before their funeral. It may have >> afforded them the apparent luxury of a single plot burial when they >> couldn't afford one. >> >> At upto 35ft deep that's a LOT of weight on the bottom coffins. I'm >> guessing a coffin might be 14inches deep and in 30ft of hole that'd be 25 >> of them. I couldn't say if coffin design has changed over the years but if >> they were similar to modern designs, where even something described as >> 'solid oak' has a significantly thinner lid and base than its walls >> (designed for eventual compaction?) then under that kind of force the >> lower ones would most likely collapse. Maybe it created, at least in the >> very short term, further additional capacity in one plot as the bottom >> ones gave way? >> >> "Another pit 20ft deep was opened on the 15th March and closed on the 16th >> April, contained 60 bodies" >> That's only 4inches per body even if they were piled to the top and not in >> coffins. >> >> "a sixth opened on the 7th April and closed on the 28th April contained 82 >> bodies, this was 35ft deep" >> This is very similar. >> >> Maybe it was the kindest and most efficient way to accomodate the dead in >> an overcrowed system prior to cremation becoming legal? Maybe it was >> profiteering? >> >> Pete >> >> >> >> On Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:09:05 -0000, Marged <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> Inquiry into the burials at St James cemetery and the Necropolis 1857, >>> gruesome reading on pit burials >>> On new snippets page >>> Please support free sites >>> http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/index.html >>> Jane >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >>> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> > > > >------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >